Nothing Left to Lose
by TheHorsemanOfDeath247
Summary: Kyle Drake has been living under Blackwatch's radar for a long time now as well as hunting down Michael Scarrow. The man who mudered his parents. After a portal accident, they are both dragged into the middle of Princess Twilight's coronation. Kyle begins to grow used to life in Equestria. Until he gets a vision. Equestria has a dark future ahead, and he is in the middle of it.
1. Chapter 1: The Arrival

**Nothing Left to Lose**

**Chapter 1: Introducing Death**

** A/N: Welcome everyone to **_**Nothing Left to Lose**_**. I'm sure you're wondering what a **_**[PROTOTYPE]**_** and MLP crossover here. I'm sorry to say this but I don't think there would be too many people in the crossover section to read it. It's extremely selfish of me, I think, but I guess it's being done. I have had to work up the nerve to do this for a while. Trust me. I promise that this will not be an absolutely dreadful fic. English is my primary language so there won't be any extreme grammar mistakes. Maybe a few every once and a while but not constantly. I think I've rambled on long enough so without further ado, enjoy the story.**

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock going off. I hated alarms. They were possibly one of the most annoying things I had ever encountered on this earth. If I would never see one again it would be too soon.

I groaned as I slammed my hand down on the top of the clock, shutting it off. I slowly rose up from my bed and stretched. It was a peaceful night's sleep. It had been a very long time since I had been able to rest like that. It was pleasant, to say the least.

There was something extremely wrong though. Something that would have signaled the apocalypse. Something that I'm sure surprised everyone in the yellow zone.

There was no gunfire. I didn't hear a single magazine load into a gun or anything of that nature. I walked to the window to make sure that I hadn't missed the end of the world, or anything of that sort.

I was met with the peaceful sight of civilians walking to and from their destinations. You may be wondering,"What's so weird about that?" The weird thing is that they weren't being shot at.

Yes, shot at. Blackwatch had taken to using the civilians in the yellow zone as living target practice. They had stooped extremely low after their secure protocol was taken off of civilians. You want it in English? Blackwatch doesn't care about the civilian population anymore. Gentek and Blackwatch both thought that securing the virus was more important than civilian safety. The result is present day Manhattan.

I suppose I should introduce myself now. My name is Kyle Drake. I am 18 years old and I live in the yellow zone of New York Zero in a small apartment.

So, now you're probably wondering what Blackwatch is. Blackwatch is supposedly one of the most elite military forces in the world. They're not known by many people except those in NYZ. Mainly due to the fact that they're working for the American government, so naturally they try to be as secretive as humanly possible. They were created to protect America from biological attacks. In 1963, their new virus known as Blacklight, infected the town of Hope, Idaho. Needless to say, the town was destroyed. They found only one survivor. A woman by the name of Elizabeth Green, or Mother, as Blackwatch had started to call her. She was an incubator of the virus. In other words, she would spread it. Possibly by even touching something she could infect it.

In 1970, Blackwatch, alongside Gentek, the creators of Blacklight, were told to contain the virus. They were supposed to do it peacefully, but that never came.

Their operations continued until 2008 when a Gentek scientist by the name of Alex J. Mercer, supposedly in a fit of delusional paranoia, stole a vile of the Blacklight virus, and released it. Blackwatch shot him up after that, and his corpse landed where the vial broke.

He woke up a few days later on an operating table in the morgue. Gentek thought the virus killed him, but they were dead wrong. It gave him superhuman abilities, of which the most notable of was his ability to consume someone. This allowed him to become that person, as well as take their memories.

Alex, technically, was dead. He died when he was shot by Blackwatch. The virus copied him down to his cell structure, though. Want a simpler version? Alex Mercer wasn't Alex Mercer anymore. He was literally a walking freaking virus. That's how he could consume someone. His cells would copy theirs to make an exact image.

Alex fought his way to Gentek and freed Elizabeth Green. With her loose, the virus spread like a damn wildfire. There was not a damn thing Blackwatch or Gentek could do. They tried Bloodtox and they tried a supersoldier program. They were helpless against it.

Finally they decided to resort to nuclear solutions. Yeah, they tried to nuke Manhattan. Thankfully, Alex had intervened, stolen the nuke, and dropped it out in the ocean so that Manhattan was out of the blast radius. He somehow survived that even.

We're at present day now where Alex is dead. He was killed by James Heller, a man whose genetics allowed him to become just like Alex. He was able to get multiple powers instead of being like Alex's evolved and only getting one power. I will go more into depth about them later.

Where was I? Oh, right. The peaceful silence that had blessed the Yellow Zone. I quickly made up my mind on what I was going to do today. I would go running. It had been a long time since I had practiced my acrobatics and such. I needed to keep myself in shape. I started to get ready.

I went to the mirror next to my bed and was met with the sight of a 6'5", blue-eyed, scar-riddled, brute. Yes, I'm not the prettiest thing to look at. I've got way too many muscles, I'm covered in scars, and my size basically deters all who dare oppose me.

Yet again, you're more than likely wondering what happened to me. It's simple really. I'm a Prototype like Alex Mercer and James Heller. Shocker isn't it? I'm sure you could have seen it coming, though. The scars are from the stuff that Gentek had me go through when they tested on me. They injected me full of this, cut me up with that, the usual mad scientist stuff that you would imagine.

Their experiments had increased my muscle growth like crazy. I had been transformed into a tower of viral muscle. I could've done with a different method of gaining my abilities, but I don't regret killing and consuming every living person at that facility. The one downside to my powers was my regeneration. I, unfortunately, didn't have the quick regeneration skills that Heller and Mercer had. My wounds took time to heal. For example, a bullet wound would take a few minutes, a lost limb would take about a week, etc…

I first put on a pair of boot-cut jeans followed by a pair of long black socks. I then put on a pair of tan, worn out _timber wolf_ boots since I only wore boots. I had found them to be much more comfortable and convenient than tennis shoes. I stuck a large _Winchester_ brand hunting knife in the knife slot on the side of my right boot, and pulled the leg over, effectively concealing the knife. It was still cold outside so I figured that I would dress heavy.

I absolutely hated the cold. I couldn't stand it. It gave me an odd feeling as if the cold wasn't natural. I would always put on multiple tops so that I could stay warm. I threw on a white T-shirt with a thick, grey hoodie that had fur liner on the inside. I still didn't think I would be warm so I threw on my favorite jacket that my father had given me before he had died.

It was a black leather jacket that he had given to me about a month before he died. It had two symmetrical dragons. They both had a different element blowing down each arm with the element forming a cuff from the middle of the forearm down. The right arm was red-orange fire and the left side was bright blue electricity. Pretty badass if I do say so myself.

Finally, I put on the iron mask that I went nowhere without. I had used it to hide my identity when escaping the facility that kept me. I found it in an alleyway and decided to keep it. Since then it had been worn down slightly. It had many scratches and scars from the bullets it had deflected. I had also carved a skull into it a few years ago. Blackwatch soldiers had taken notice of this in the encounters I had with them as I always wore the mask. They had taken to calling me Death. I, honestly, couldn't blame them. I guarantee that every Blackwatch soldier that has seen me in person died within the next few seconds, if not minutes.

Deciding I was done with my little fashion show, I decided that I needed to arm myself. I usually carried around an arsenal of melee weapons. I didn't really take to using my powers too often as I didn't want to attract too much attention to myself if I were to have to defend myself.

I grabbed a tough belt that I had been using for years. Before I put it on, I armed it with a sheathe for three throwing knifes, a combat tomahawk, two flesheater knives*, and a handheld maul. People would wonder why I had so many weapons on me and look at me like I was crazy, but I didn't care. I would rather have weird looks than be killed.

"I think that's enough," I thought to myself. "Time to go," I opened up the window and jumped out. Luckily, there were no civilians around my landing spot so I didn't have to adjust my fall.

The ground cracked as I hit it. One of the effects of being a Prototype was the increased weight. I had more mass than Mercer or Heller, so I made a bigger crater. I started off slowly walking straight before I sped up to full speed sprinting. I, eventually, reached a building and jumped towards it.

As I neared the building in the air, I stuck one foot out in front of me. It embedded itself up to the ankle into the building. I quickly brought the other foot up and pushed into the building again. I repeated the process which effectively propelled me up the building. When I reached the top, I did a front flip and ran across the rooftop.

With the building's edge nearing me, I prepared myself to jump. Another perk of being a Prototype was your jumping. With enough work, you could jump up to eighty feet high. Alongside that, you could run about 60 MPH and strike with an insane amount of force.

I finally reached the edge of the building and launched myself as high as possible. From this view I could see most of the YZ. I don't mean to sound too soft but the sight was beautiful. The sun was behind the buildings of the Red Zone giving them the look of a golden city on the horizon although, the Red Zone was almost literally hell on earth.

I continued running along the rooftops of the YZ for a few minutes until I heard gunshots.

"And I thought today was going to be peaceful," I said to myself. Hearing theses gunshots severely pissed me off. I decided to go see what was going on. Pretty soon I came across about 50 Blackwatch soldiers opening fire on a group of innocent civilians. Although it was a normal sight to see civilians being slaughtered, you always had to feel remorse for them.

I gave a moment of silence for the civilians before inspecting what gear the soldiers had. I spotted a few rocket launchers and grenade launchers, but most of them had either an assault rifle or a light machine gun. I also spotted what looked like their most recent model of a viral detector off to the side of the company, but it was circular at the top.

Then, I spotted someone that I hadn't seen in a few years. The one man who I had vowed to kill if it was the last thing I'd do. He is the one who made me into what I am today. The one who had killed me, so to speak.

His name was Michael Scarrow. Michael was the man who had dragged me away for experimenting. My parents tried to save me but Michael being in Blackwatch decided to put a bullet in their brains. I was crushed when he did that and vowed to one day kill him. It was going to be easier since he was the one who ordered the multiple scarring experiments. I was going to have fun ripping his beating heart out of his chest.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, I launched high off of the building and prepared to bullet dive into the middle of the soldiers. Apparently, one of them heard me jump because I heard him yell at me. I quickly thrusted down and flew down to the soldiers.

"Scatter," one soldier yelled, and they did exactly that. I slammed the ground with, more than likely, the force of a freight train. Some of the Blackwatch soldier didn't manage to get out of range in time and were sent flying twenty feet in the air. My impact had managed to force up quite the cloud of dust. I quickly activated my thermal vision and looked around. I could see everyone's heat signature. I saw some of them over by that odd looking machine, probably trying to get it working.

As the dust cleared, Michael saw me and started speaking to me.

"Well, boy, you finally decided to show your face around me again, did you?"

"You know damn good and well I would rip your spine out of your ass at the first chance I got. I'm pretty damn pissed off at your stunt just now with the civilians too."

"I'm so scared of you _Death_. That's what the soldiers call you isn't it? It absolutely _terrifies_ me. Whatever shall I do?"

"You're gonna die, bitch. Today is the day you die. You're just another soldier like the rest of these pathetic excuses of men."

"That's where you're wrong Kyle. I'm not some ordinary soldier. I'm just like you if you catch my drift."

"Let's start then. I'm eager for you to see your own beating heart like I did mine."

Just as I was about to rush Michael, he started up the weird machine. A white, swirling space formed at the circle at the top.

"Say hello to the newest and most advanced piece of technology on this earth, boy. An inter-dimensional portal device."

The machine suddenly started blinking red from the bulb at the time.

"ALERT," the machine wailed. "MALFUNCTION! MALFUNCTION! EVACUATE ALL PERSONNEL WITHIN A 100 YARD RADIUS!"

"No," Michael yelled. "Why the hell aren't you working?!"

I felt myself slowly being tugged toward the direction for the portal, as well as every one of the Blackwatch soldiers. I'll admit that is was amusing to see the soldiers get pulled into the portal like a bunch of ragdolls but, I needed to worry about my own skin right now.

In an attempt to stop my movement, I quickly thrusted my hands into the concrete beneath my feet. Unfortuanately, it didn't hold for long before I started slipping out of my grip. Taking a glance behind me, I saw Michael trying to keep from falling in the portal as well. I wasn't going to be having any of that crap. If I was going down I was taking him down with me.

I let go of the ground and let the portal drag me. I started running at full speed toward Michael. The portal allowed me to gain major speed added to my normal sprinting speed.

"Michael," I yelled as I ran towards him. "You die today you son of a bitch!" I tackled him right after I said that and we flew into the portal. I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen. However, I did know that I was about to kill the man who had ruined my life along with countless others.

**A/N: So how was the first chapter? Bad? Good? I hope it was good. It is my first fanfiction after all. If any of you would like to talk, just PM me and I will be glad to do so. I'm a nice guy. I will more than likely update this story once every few days if you wanted to know. My schedule is kind of busy since I have work and I have to instruct a few martial arts classes every other day. I digress, have a good day everyone!**

***The flesheater knife was actually developed by my sensei's sensei, Mr. Arsenio James Advincula. It was designed entirely for the purpose of killing and fighting, hence the name.**


	2. Chapter 2: Death's Redemption

**Chapter 2: Death's Redemption **

** A/N: I know I said that I would only update this story every few days but I literally just couldn't resist. I know that I'm the author of the story, but even I couldn't wait to see what happens. I'm listening to some Metallica and Hollywood Undead so I was feeling really pumped up to write this. My first ever fight scene so bear with me here guys.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the [PROTOTYPE] or My Little Pony franchise. [PROTOTYPE] is property of Activision, and My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro.**

**POV: 3****rd**** person**

Twilight Sparkle couldn't possibly be any more aghast than she was at this moment. She couldn't think of any words to describe her utter happiness at the events than had happened within the last few days. She could have never expected this when she helped her friends defeat Nightmare Moon a few years ago. She would have never imagined that she would one day be crowned as a princess of Equestria.

A few days earlier, it had seemed like a normal day to Twilight. She had gotten up in the morning humming a catchy tune that came to her head. She knew that it was going to be a wonderful day. She just knew it. Call it mare's intuition. She went through the town singing about her pure joy of being in ponyville. That was until she got splashed with a raincloud full of water.

"Rainbow Dash, that's not funny," Twilight said, mildly annoyed. Though she was not met with the usual tomboyish voice that she was used to, she was met with the voice of a more posh voice. Giving a startled look towards the source of her voice, she saw something that had, needless to say, shocked the living hell out of her.

There was her friend Rarity but on her flank was not the normal cutie mark that she should have.

On her flank was Rainbow Dash's cutie mark.

"Terribly sorry, darling," Rarity said. "I'm afraid I'm not good with the thundery ones."

"*Gasp*And something tells me that everything is not going to be fine," Twilight said worriedly. Twilight continued to ask Rarity questions about what was going on. Upon further investigation, Rarity told Twilight that Rainbow Dash was in her cottage. There was nothing normal about that.

As she and Spike arrived at "Rainbow Dash's" cottage, they knocked on the door. Rainbow Dash came out very soon with a worried expression

"Hey guys," Rainbow said.

"Rainbow Dash, why is Rarity doing your job," Twilight asked. A sudden crash made Rainbow Dash jump in shock and retreat back into the small house. "And what in Equestria is going on in…!" Twilight and Spike were met with an almost literal face full of chaos. There were animals absolutely everywhere. An animal had landed on top of Rainbow Dash's head, and Rainbow Dash, in return, grabbed it, flew it up to a bird cage, and chucked it in. Twilight looked at the creature and saw that it was Pinkie Pie's pet crocodile, Gummy.

Twilight went to all of the places that her friends and her had often met up and was met with the same sight every single time. Her friends didn't have their correct cutie mark. In a fit of paranoia she rushed back to the library. As she opened the door, she danced nervously on her hooves and rushed into her library.

"Why is this happening," her assistant, Spike, exclaimed. Twilight began to explain what had happened the previous night before. Starting with her getting the package from Celestia and ending when she said that she cast the spell but nothing happened.

It did take some time, but Twilight had managed to figure out a way to get her friends' cutie marks back to their original owner. She had shown her friend, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash's cottage. Twilight had asked Fluttershy to help out Rainbow Dash with her animals. Fluttershy was reluctant, but she went, nonetheless.

As Spike, Twilight, and Fluttershy arrived at the cottage, there was a loud bang from the inside of the door. Long story short, Fluttershy had managed to regain her cutie mark by finding her true talent once again. Being done with Fluttershy, The trio went to each of their friends' homes and such to get them back in their right mind.

Soon, the friends were reunited together once again. As they were in the middle of a group hug, Twilight had something spark in her brain. She knew how she could fix Starswirl's spell! Twilight and her friends all rushed to Twilight's literal treehouse.

She quickly picked up a quill and began reciting her words as she wrote.

"From all of us together, together we are friends. With the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end." Just as Twilight struck down on the paper to make the period at the end of the sentence, something frightening happened.

Twilight's horn had started to glow randomly. Suddenly, all of the other mares' necklaces shot out beams of their own respective color towards Twilight, and surrounded her in a glowing white orb. After a few seconds, Twilight has disappeared and left a smoking scorch mark where she was recently. Her friends started screaming at the absence of their friend.

Twilight had found herself in somewhere unknown to her. To her it looked like Luna's night sky, but not as dark. "Hello," Twilight called out, hoping someone would hear her. Soon her mentor, Princess Celestia, came walking out of the seemingly endless void.

"Congratulations, Twilight," Celestia began. "I knew you could do it."

"Princess? I don't understand. What did I do?"

"You did something today that's never been done before. Something that even a great unicorn like Starswirl the Bearded was not able to do because he did not understand friendship as you do. The lessons you learned here in Ponyville have taught you well. You have proven that you're ready Twilight."

"Ready? Ready for what?"

Celestia guided Twilight through her various memories in life everywhere from her struggling to learn her first spells up to her adventures in Ponyville. Again, long story short, something miraculous happened. As Twilight came out of the odd place, a large star, in the form of her cutie mark, arrived in the sky. Her friends quickly ran outside to find out what was going on. Soon it lowered to the ground and started to fade away.

When the star completely faded, Twilight was in its place, but she was different this time. She came out of the star not as a normal unicorn, but as an alicorn. Her friends, who were utterly speechless, started to marvel at her new wings, unknowing of Princess Celestia coming to them from the sky. With a heartfelt moment, Celestia explained that Twilight was now a princess and was no longer her student in the same manner of which she had been.

The coronation had been scheduled a few days afterwards in honor of the new Princess Twilight. Celestia had invited a great amount of ponies to watch this modern legend.

"Fillies and gentlecolts," Celestia started. "May I present for the very first time, Princess Twilight Spa-" She had never gotten to finish her sentence because at that moment a white portal opened up in the middle of the throne room. The doors to the room opened with singing mares following Twilight but stopped once they saw the sight. The portal simply stayed there for a few seconds before an odd looking creature fell through the portal.

It was black all over except for where its face was. It had glowing blue eyes along with a blade looking item on its left arm. Soon, more of the same creatures had followed suit. This was where the real fun began. A being that was dressed in black and yellow came next. It lacked the blade on its arm but had the same glowing, blue eyes that its brethren had.

The final being to come out of the portal was the biggest of them all. It had completely dwarfed all of the others that it followed. It had a black jacket on with two dragons blowing fire and electricity down its arms, jeans, and boots.

The jacketed creature caught the black and yellow one in midair and threw it into the ground quickly, shattering the marble from the impact. The portal closed as the behemoth landed on the ground, dust scattering from the landing. Then, it spoke.

"Looks like we're still alive Michael. Guess that means that you _will_ die today."

"We shall see. Of course, you wouldn't want to harm any innocents would you? Look around." The other spoke. Apparently, its name was Michael

**POV: Death**

It was when Michael said this that I noticed my surroundings. A room full of big-eyed, technicolored…horses? I was now in the dimension of horses? Damn horses? Really? Who wrote that stupid crap? **(*cough*) **To add to the fact that they were horses, they didn't look like they could hurt a fly.

Taking a glance behind me I noticed three horses that were taller than all of the rest and intricately dressed. (Rhyme) I was shocked, to say the least. They, honestly, looked horrible, but they must've held some kind of command over the other ponies. If that was the case then I needed them to get this room evacuated.

"Can you understand me," I asked them, not taking my eyes off of Michael.

"Yes," one replied.

"What a lucky chance then. Can you do me a massive favor Mrs…?"

"Celestia."

"Celestia."

"What is it?"

"I need you to evacuate this room by all means possible, please."

"Why you interrupted one of the most moment-"

"_Please_ save the nagging for later. I need this room evacuated now. Unless, of course, you and your people can take heavy blood and gore. I wouldn't want their massive eyes to see all of what's about to happen." This is when Michael butted in.

"Oh, hell no you don't," he said as he grabbed a random horse. "No one is going anywhere. If I'm going down, I'm taking people with me." This was a bad mistake to say because when he finished, he was rocketed towards me. I didn't care how it happened, but I wasn't going to miss my chance of getting a good blow.

I quickly turned my hands into my muscle mass power. This power transformed my arms into pure muscle, effectively doubling my melee damage output. In other words, I could punch as hard as a freight train with this power and my body put together. I remember one time when I was in the red zone trying these things out. I ended up punching a normal infected as hard as I could and it exploded. Yes, exploded. I didn't believe it either, but it happened.

Just as Michael reached me I drew my arm back and punched forward as hard as I could. This turned Michael into a bullet headed back to where he was blasted from. He sailed out into the hall and through multiple walls. I took this chance to see that the one who had blasted him was a horse with both wings and a horn. I believe they are called alicorns.

This one was lavender colored with a dark, dark teal (or purple?) mane with two highlights side by side. One was a slightly lighter shade than her normal mane color, but her second highlight was a hot pink color.

"Thanks," I said to her before staring back at Celestia and raising my mask. I needed some time to give her a quick rundown on what was going on. When I rested my gaze upon her I was met with the furious look of a big freaking horse.

"Listen, Celestia. I can explain everything later, but right now I need to kill him. He will try to end this world if I don't." She didn't even hesitate before giving me an answer.

"Do it. He tried to harm one of my subjects. Thank you, Twilight Sparkle, for your help." I saw the lavender mare nod in confirmation. "What is your name creature?"

"Kyle Drake, or Death, if you want to get informal. Now please get all of your subjects to evacuate and don't go into any buildings outside if they can help it. Don't worry; this won't take long at all."

"I do not know you creature. How can I be so sure that you are meaning to help?"

"Because I'm not the one who just said that I was taking down innocents if I was going down. Proof enough for you?"

"Fair enough."

"Do you have dungeons here?"

"Yes, though they haven't been used for some time. Why do you ask?"

"Lock all of these others up before they wake up. They're just like the one I'm going to kill now." Celestia gave a firm nod and told her guards to start evacuating all of the ponies, as she called them. She also gave the order for them to not interfere with the battle. Probably so that they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire.

"How are you certain that you will kill him," Celestia inquired.

"Have you ever killed Death," I responded as I flipped my mask down and morphed my right arm into a massive blade that was almost as big as I was. And with that, the battle officially began. (Battle tunes anyone? How about Hollywood Undead-We Are)

I jumped through the seemingly endless amount of holes in the walls that Michael had left. Just as I was about to jump through the final hole I felt something behind me. I tried to take a glance but was met with the fist of my arch-enemy. The force sent me flying out into the city streets like a crashing UFO. I left a deep trench as I was trying to recover from the hit.

I soon rolled over backwards on my feet while holding my blade in a defensive stance, should Michael have decided to follow up on his attack. He stupidly didn't and just slowly walked towards me, rattling with that useless gaping face-hole of his.

"That's where the difference between me and you sets in Death. I can thin-"I'd had enough talking and launched my whipfist at him. He didn't have the time to dodge as he didn't expect me to do that. My whipfist speared him straight through the chest and embedded itself there. I pulled as hard as I could to get him off of his feet. It worked very well since he flew through the air straight towards me.

I quickly changed back to my muscle mass and gave him a powerful uppercut that sounded like his spine even broke from the impact. Not wanting to waste precious time, I grabbed Michael's foot as he started sailing up towards the sky. It was extremely difficult with the amount of force I put in, but I managed to grab a hold of both of his feet and slam him back down into the ground at my feet. He gave a yelp of pain as he tried to get back up from the barrage. He then did something I didn't expect.

He armored himself up. That armor was so strong that the user could take multiple tank shots while only feeling a slight amount of the force. It would be hard to hurt him while he had that thing activated. He then activated his powers which were the typical double axehand of the evolved. Childs play.

Michael charged at me, apparently trying to run me through. I met him halfway with my hammerfists. We struggled at first, but I eventually overcame his strength. I managed to get him to his knees before slamming one of my hammerfists down on him. Seeing that Michael was dazed, I continued the assault before jumping in the air and slamming both of my fists down onto him. I grabbed him by the neck and chucked him into the closest building that I could find.

I walked behind Michael as he soared through the walls of the building. As I stepped into the building I noticed two mares…umm… How do I say this? Ugh… Getting it on?

"AAAHHHH," one of them screamed. "GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!"

"Sorry ladies," I replied. "Just passing through. You should really find somewhere else to do that other than a house." They both gave me an incredulous look as I stepped through the other hole in the wall. I spotted Michael attempting to get up. It was, unsurprisingly, amusing to see him this way. In an attempt to save his energy he deactivated his armor and axe-hands. It was my time to shine. I would make him pay for what he did to me.

Out the corner of my eye, I spotted four ponies: Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, and the other two who had been at Celestia's side during the interruption.

"I guess I'll show off a tiny bit, I suppose," I thought. I switched to my tendrils so that I could suspend Michael and go to town on him. I hit him twice with my tendrils as he tried to rush me yet again. He was now suspended in the air by tendrils holding onto buildings and trees alike.

I switched to my claws, the one power that I had not used yet. Michael was yelling profanities as I approached him. He was scared. I could hear it in his voice. That was good. I wanted him to be scared. I wanted him to beg for his life. I wanted him to scream for mercy as I took his life from him, just as he did me a few years ago.

Quickly throwing a flurry of slashes all over Michael, I realized his regenerative powers had depleted completely. He was now mortal again, and bleeding out. I cut the tendrils suspending him down, and he fell to the ground with a yell of pain.

I slowly started walking towards the man who had screwed my life over. Michael was trying to crawl away. He was _begging_ for me to let him live. It was beautiful satisfaction.

"Come on, Kyle. You don't have to do this. We can start over, please! I'm sorry," he pleaded.

"No. You have no idea of the pain I went through, the shit I've gone through, the pain I've endured. I'm glad this moment has shined itself in front of me. This is better than Christmas, honestly," I replied as I grabbed him by his throat and picked him up.

A being put their hand on me. I turned to find that it was Celestia herself who had stopped me. She had, thankfully, ditched the hideous trash that she had been wearing before. I couldn't, honestly, believe that I was focusing on something as little as a dress right now.

"Don't, Kyle. You will have to live with the guilt of his death on your consciousness as long as you live. He is begging to be spared Kyle. Leave him be, and he will meet Equestrian justice. He will pay for trying to harm one of my subjects," Celestia said. I thought it over for a few seconds before I threw Michael down to the ground.

"Thank you, thank you, Kyle! You won't regret this! I swear you will not," Michael thanked. He honestly didn't believe he was going to walk away alive for what he had done to me did he? "Wait. What are you doing? No, stop! Please, stop! No, please do-" That was the last I would hear or see of Michael Scarrow. I had stomped on his head, and left a pool of blood where my foot was. As I felt his body morph into mine, I had a look into his memories. By god, they were horrible.

Celestia was absolutely stunned by what I had just done. She, apparently, had never seen that kind of gore before. It was then that I noticed the stares. It looked like everyone in the town had been there to watch me do what I did. I simply stared back at her from behind my mask. I stuck my hand out for a handshake and said, "Death. At your service, your highness." She stared at me as if I had killed someone she dearly loved.

I could already tell that this place was going to be fun.

**A/N: So how was the fight scene? I, honestly, didn't like it. It was too one sided, though I wanted to show Kyle dominate in front of the ponies to instill fear. They were already probably scared, though. Also, a new story and already a few favorites, follows, and reviews already? Thank you so much guys. You have absolutely no idea how happy that makes me. Also to answer Medchtsia's question, this story is not anthro or humanized. Normal pony people. This may be turned to M rated later, but no clop. I'm going to try very hard on character development for Kyle. Enough said now. Have a great day everypony!**


	3. Chapter 3: What Now?

**A/N: Nothing much to say except for here is a new chapter. Enjoy!**

**Productive faffer: HELL YEAH! I didn't disappoint someone! That absolutely made my day, man. Thanks a whole lot.**

**godzillafan1: I appreciate that. I'm glad you, at least, are giving the story a chance.**

**Chapter 3: What Now?**

**POV: Death**

A few hours had passed since the battle, and I was now being lead to the castle dungeons. Why, you may ask? I had just saved this entire country, more than likely, by killing Michael. Why on earth would I be going to the dungeons if I was a savior? It was simple, really. I had, apparently, screwed up by turning Michael's head into dust. Celestia hadn't really thought what I did was right, so she ordered her guards to take me to the castle dungeons along with the rest of the Blackwatch soldiers.

The guards, though, were the most pathetic excuses of protectors I had ever seen. Then again, that is coming from someone who is virtually indestructible, but the guards were shaking in their boots at me. They tried to act brave around Celestia and her other 3 friends, but they hadn't done too well of a job at that. I could still see them shake in fear occasionally. They had also tried to cuff me in an attempt that was mildly amusing, to say the least.

They were some sort of "magic" cuffs. From what I saw, only the unicorns had the abilities to perform magic, besides the alicorns. I also saw a few pegasi, as well. I guessed that's what they were since all they had was wings. I'd read mythology before, so that's what I had taken to calling them. The same went for the unicorns, though I hadn't figured out what the normal ponies were called. I hadn't heard anything on the way to the dungeons so I didn't know what to call them. I simply settled on "land" ponies.

The magic cuffs, although cool, to say the least, were very fragile and meant for pony strength. I figured this out when I had felt something like a bite at the back of my head and quickly raised my hand to rub it away. The cuffs shattered like glass and faded into nothingness as they fell. I got a glimpse of some ponies' faces and they were absolutely shocked by what I had done.

"Someone say that I'm not strong now," I thought to myself. No one had.

As the multiple guards and I reached the dungeons, I figured that they must not have been used in a long time. Celestia did say that herself, of course. There was dust and cobwebs everywhere: in the cells, on the cell bars, and even one right in the middle of the walkway.

The guards hadn't re-cuffed me after I shattered them the first time, so I moved the web out of the way and kept walking. The place was dark, save for a torch every now and then.

We walked for a little longer before the guards told me to go into the next cell on my right. They had done the right thing by putting me by myself without a Blackwatch soldier in my cell, but screwed up by putting me in the middle of all their cells. Some of the Blackwatch soldiers hadn't woken up yet, but most of them were.

Though I couldn't see any of their expressions, I knew they held either anger, hatred, or fear towards me. Hopefully most of them were fear. I would be able to give them a heart attack if I had scared them enough.

The cells were what you would typically imagine from a castle dungeon. They were all concrete with a concrete bench stretching out the back wall. A bed, if you could call it one, that would be extremely hard for anyone to sleep on. It was what you deserved if you had managed to get thrown in here. I wasn't deserving of this place, but I wasn't complaining. That flowing-haired bitch would get what was coming to her soon enough.

For the time being, I had decided to simply sit and think about what had transpired within the past hour, or so. I had found Michael. He activated a portal which sucked up his company, him, and me all in one. We landed in the middle of some massive event in a royal throne room. I had killed Michael, and then was thrown in the dungeon with a group of baby-killing freaks. I didn't know when I would be able to get out, but I could wait as long as anyone else could. I would have easily broken the iron cell bars, but I didn't want to put these ponies in more of a panic than they already were.

I was soon interrupted from my thoughts by a Blackwatch soldier.

"Hey, Death," he said. I looked at him and gave no response. "How's it going?" I gave him a scoff in response. "I heard your parents screamed."

…

…

He just dug his own grave by saying that. He knew it too, but he, for some reason, didn't care.

"What was it like to see your parents die in front of you?" Those were his last words. I shot my whipfist at him through the bars and sliced him cleanly in half at the waist. That kind of shit was why Blackwatch needed to be erased. He may have just been curious, but I highly doubt that.

"Anyone else," I called out. "Anyone else want to make a comment and die?" Silence was what I got in return. Deciding that I wouldn't be out for a while, I took my belt off and let my knives drop to the ground around me. I took my jacket off along with my hoodie and mask. I was sitting there in only my jeans, t-shirt, and boots, and I was comfortable.

I ran my hands along my pockets to see if I had anything in my jeans, and it turns out I did. I had unknowingly grabbed my iPhone back at my apartment and put it in my pocket. I thought that I would play some music to get my mind off of things. I scrolled through the iPod app and settled on the song "Nightmare" by Avenged Sevenfold.

I didn't want to sit there and listen to the song while doing nothing so I decided to work out a bit. I did some sit-ups, pushups, and some other simple ones. My favorite ones, though, were handstand pushups and pull-ups. I liked to push myself when working out to get myself stronger. Though I never gained strength, it was nice to, at least, act like I was still a human.

For the next few hours I had worked out. Some of the Blackwatch soldiers started to come out of their shell and talking to one another. They asked questions like "Where are we", "Where's the commander?" and "How long until we get out?" I suppose they had all fallen asleep. I was extremely bored so I decided to go ahead and walk around the castle to familiarize myself with it.

I walked up to the cell bars after putting all of my items back on myself, and pulled them apart. They were surprisingly difficult to move. It wasn't hard to move them, of course, but they were stronger than they looked. Quickly throwing my hood and mask on, I made my way to the end of the hallway that led to the rest of the castle. I checked my phone for the time and it read 12:11 P.M.

"Damn," I thought. "I've been busy for a while, haven't I?" I eventually came to the door to the castle. I tried the handle to see if it was locked. To my surprise, it wasn't. "They probably didn't think anyone would be able to breakout." I thought. I peeked through the door slowly, so as to make sure there were no guards around to spot me. Luckily, there were none.

I slowly closed the door behind me as I entered the hallway. I expected this place to be big, so I would take my time to make details of everything I saw. I began walking to nowhere in particular. Along my way, I passed many doors. How anyone ever found their room in this castle I'll never know.

At that point I heard two voices coming my way. Quickly looking around, I saw no places to hide. I could run to the corner at the other end of the hall, but that would not be sufficient. It was a long hallway with no turns in it. I looked up to see if there was a skylight that I could use, but I saw none. The ceiling was high enough for someone to not notice me, though.

Settling on the ceiling, I jumped up and dug my hands and feet into it. I quickly crawled towards the corner the voices were coming from. I was surpsided that it could hold my weight, but why would I do this, you may ask? Because it is harder to notice somebody right above your head, rather than a few feet both in front and above you. By getting closer, I could make sure that I was out of their peripheral vision when they that turned the corner.

When the voices came into view, I saw two ponies: Twilight Sparkle and some white stallion with a blue mane.

"Don't worry Twily," the white one said. "I'm sure that it won't harm you. Didn't you say that it had wanted to evacuate the throne room?"

"Yes," Twilight responded. "I still can't help but feel scared when I looked into its eyes for that brief moment. I could tell that that thing was angry. It didn't act like it, surprisingly enough, but it was."

"Don't worry. It won't hurt you from the sounds of it. Even if it did, it would have the entire crystal empire and royal guard to deal with. I doubt it could withstand against a few soldiers, much less two massive armies."

"Try me, bitch. I've killed things that are 50 goddamn feet tall and taken shots from things that could level skyscrapers." I thought to myself. "I could take on you ponies any day and win."

"I know, Shining Armor. I know. I'll try to not think about it for now. We need to hurry up and get to Celestia's room. Luna and Cadance are already there, more than likely."

That caught my attention. I had been wanting to confront the bitch who had thrown me in the dungeon. If these two were going to be there, then Celestia may have been as well. I could get some answers from her.

As soon as Twilight and Shining Armor had rounded the next corner, I dropped from the ceiling and silently jogged up to the corner they went around. I slowly peered around and saw them turn to a corner on the right. This would have been easier if I had consumed a guard, but I didn't want to seem like an asshole. I had never tried consuming something of another species. I wasn't sure if it would work or not. Through the countless infected I had consumed, however, I figured out one thing: You could not take the form of another being infected with the Blacklight virus. You could take their memories, but not their shape.

I soon got to the corner that the two ponies did and peered around to see if they were still there. I saw them entering a room with large double doors and a sun on the front of it.

"Perfect," I said to myself. I quickly ran up to the door, silently, of course, and stood next to it. I wanted to hear what was going on.

"Ah, thou art here at last," I heard one voice say. It spoke with an Old English type of language.

"Sorry everypony," I heard Twilight apologize. "Shining Armor and I were talking on the way here and we took our time."

"It is fine Twilight," Celestia said "Were you followed?"

"No, we weren't. There wasn't anywhere for anypony to hide on our way here. I'm sure of it."

"Good. Now we can discuss what we are to do with the creature named Kyle Drake."

That was a start. I needed somewhere that I could have listened in on this conversation easier, and somewhere I wouldn't be caught. I remembered seeing a balcony outside of the castle when Michael and I fought. If this was Celestia's bedroom, then chances were that that balcony was hers. It made sense for a Princess to have a balcony.

I found the nearest window to jump out of. Of course, I looked around for guards before I did so. Satisfied that there weren't any, I grabbed hold of the side of the window and threw myself on the wall. I started to wall run in a diagonal form towards the balcony. To make a quieter approach I jumped up at started gliding towards the balcony.

I grabbed onto the edge of the balcony when it came into reach and pulled myself up. I could hear much better from this position compared to the door.

"I don't know, Auntie," I heard an unknown voice say. "He seemed fine to me. He had a level head when he arrived here. He wanted the ponies in the throne room evacuated for their safety. I don't think he is all that bad, honestly."

"You saw what he did, Cadance," Celestia began. "That creature he was fighting was begging for his life. Kyle killed him anyway. He seemed like he was happy to kill the other creature. I will admit that it was honorable of him to want to evacuate the room so that no innocents would get hurt, buthe still ended the life of another. You know that that does not go well with the Equestrian law."

"But sister, who knows what that other creature Kyle was fighting hoped to gain. We…er… I know that thou saw what he had done. He grabbed an innocent pony in hopes that if he died, he would take a life with him," I heard the archaic speaker say.

"While that is true Luna, I still can't help but feel he is not normal. Like he isn't natural. I don't think any being should be able to do what he did without remorse, much less actually do it in the first place."

Damn right I'm not natural. And you're standing up for that dead baby-killer? Really? "But maybe he could be used for good." What? Did Celestia just say that I could be used for good? Wasn't I good enough already? I saved her damn subjects!

"How," Twilight asked.

"He seemed to know what he was doing in battle, and the creatures that came through the portal looked like they were outfitted for combat. Perhaps they were a form of military, or something close to that."

"What does that have to do with anything," Shining Armor asked.

"Simple," Celestia said. "Since Kyle has dealt with these people before, he could have some military experience. We could have him train the royal guards. He, obviously, knows how to fight in hand-to-hand combat, and that could give the guards major aid."

"With all due respect Princess, the guards are fine." Shining Armor retaliated. "They performed their duties today admirably."

"Should you have been there when Kyle was being led to the dungeons, you would know what I mean. The guards put magic cuffs on him and he broke out of them. Without meaning to from the looks of it."

I didn't like the sound of this. Celestia was going to try and have me train some scared ass guards? I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I had to stop this now before it got too far.

I quickly pushed the doors open while saying, "You can't possibly be serious about that, can you?" I had, almost literally, scared the piss out of all of them. I saw them all light their horns up a launch different stuff at me. Time seemed to go in slow motion for me over the next few seconds.

I raised my hands up to attempt to activate my shields but was met with the sight of dark grey, stone looking, armor. I had taken all of the attacks without feeling much of anything at all.

I was now jumping up and down on the inside. I had taken Michael's armor ability! It was a surprise to me since I had never consumed an evolved infected before. I was ecstatic that I had gained Michael's power. Perhaps I had gained something else along with this. It took a few seconds for the ponies to recover from shock before starting to question me.

"Why aren't you in the dungeon? How did you escape," Celestia asked with slight anger.

"I'm not in the dungeon because I don't want to be. I simply pulled the bars to my cell apart. You should also tell your guards to start locking doors to the dungeon too. Leaving a dungeon unlocked? Who does that?" I said in response. I turned to Shining Armor. "You want to bet that I can take on both of the armies you claim I can't? I could take 100 of you on and not break a sweat."

"How did you...?" He asked shocked.

"You and Twilight don't look up on the ceiling very often, do you?" Both Twilight and Shining Armor blushed slightly in embarrassment. I turned to Cadance and Luna. I assumed Luna was the dark blue pony with the night mane and Cadance was the one pink one with the tri-colored mane. "Pleasure to meet you both. How's it going?" No response.

"Right. Anyway, what do you mean having me train your guards? Even you saw how terrified of me they were, Celestia."

"I know. That is why I would like you to train them. First of all, do you have any military experience?"

"Yes, an insane amount."

"Good. Now, there is one final question."

"And what may that be?"

"Would you allow my sister, Luna, and I access to your memories, for now? We must make sure that you are not wanting to harm anypony while you are here. We only just met you today, and I would be willing to bet that you are stuck in Equestria until you can find a way back home."

I couldn't let them look into my head. I couldn't let them ruin their sanity by doing that. I didn't know how memories looked when traveling through them. Who did? I could imagine my head being a massive damn maze for them. I doubted that they could find my memories if they tried.

"No."

"Why not? How are we supposed to know of your intentions?"

"I say "no" because I've seen, done, and gone through shit that no one should have. If you tried going through the maze of my mind, you could never find my memories."

This is when Luna chimed in.

"What doth thou speakest of? What doth thou mean by your 'maze of the mind'?"

"I mean just that."

"What do you mean specifically, though?" Celestia asked.

"Do you know what I did to Michael when I killed him?" This question was directed to all of the ponies in the room. Seeing all of them shake their heads, I told them what happened. "I consumed him." I gained puzzled looks in response.

"To me, consuming someone allows me to become them. I am able to take their looks and memories."

"How is that possible," Twilight inquired. "How are you able to do that? And also, _what _are you? I've never read about any species that looked like yours before."

"I am a human. Well, I used to be. To answer your first question, I am able to copy that thing down to a cellular level. My cells copy theirs and allow me to become a perfect copy of that thing I consumed."

"What do you mean you used to be," Cadance asked.

"I'm not human anymore. I'm a living, breathing virus." At this they all gave me odd looks. To end their confusion I gave them the whole spew on the history of Blacklight and what it does to you, but I left out my history. I didn't want them knowing what had happened to me.

"What about you then," Celestia asked. "What happened to you? How did you become infected?"

"I will not share that with you. I purposefully left that out. That is also why I don't want you going into my memories. You don't want, or need, to know why I am the way I am." As I finished, I could feel something in my head shift. I quickly put two and two together and looked at Celestia with a death glare. I slowly pulled down my hood and took my mask off without taking my eyes off of hers.

It was then she realized that I had meant what I said. I hadn't wanted her looking into my memories because she didn't need to concern herself with me, and she couldn't have handled it. She didn't appear to be soft, but she didn't look like a rock-hard stone. I slowly approached her, and as I did she got a good look at my scar-riddled face, as well as everyone else in the room.

I had then realized that I was the tallest one in the room. Celestia, excluding her horn, only came up to halfway to my chest. I had assumed that she was a tall pony, as she was the second tallest in the room.

"You know," I began. "I had meant what I said. You shouldn't go digging around in my head. Your sanity is on the line when you do. I will say this only one more time: do _not_, and I repeat, do_ not_ dig around in my head."

Her shock when I had walked back to where I was sitting was immense. I couldn't tell what she was shocked about, but she had, obviously, found something bad in my head. I told her not to, but she did it anyway.

"Where is my room? I'm not going back to that dungeon, and seeing is how I'm training your _pets_ I need a place to stay." She had told me to follow her, and led me out the door and down the hall a little bit. Both of our rooms were in the same hallway. This was probably to show status of some sort.

I gave her a grunt in thanks and closed the door behind me. As I heard her walking away I walked to my bed. I needed some sleep after the day I had. I quickly stripped down to my boxers, jumped in the bed, and fell asleep.

**POV: Celestia**

I couldn't believe it. I simply refused to believe it. There was no possible way that anypony had the amount of memories he did. I did, of course, find Kyle's memories, but they were so deep in his head that it was shocking that I found them at all. A mind reading spell only takes a few seconds, if that, to work completely.

I made my way back to my room to go meet back with Luna, Twilight, Cadance, and Shining Armor. I needed to tell them what had happened when I ran the spell.

As I walked back into the room, I was met with the worried looks of said ponies.

"Sister, what is wrong? What did thou…err…you find," Luna asked.

"I found his memories," I replied. "But that is the problem. I can understand why he was worried about us going into his mind. He did not want us to worry about what he had gone through. Perhaps so that we wouldn't concern ourselves with him, but the frightening part was how far back in his mind the memories were."

"Auntie," Cadance said. "What did you find? Why is he the way he his?"

"To answer your first question, I found the memories of many other humans. He has killed many more humans than I thought he had, but they were all evil from the looks of it." I wondered how I would answer my niece's second question. I couldn't tell her what happened exactly.

"It is too horrific for anypony to see. I will simply say this: he has seen his own heart in his chest."

Everypony adopted wide eyes as they heard this. They had caught my drift and decided to leave it alone. Taking a glance at the clock in the corner of the room, I saw that it was close to 1:15 in the morning. I decided that everypony needed to get to bed as we had a big day for tomorrow.

"It is late. We all need to get some rest for tomorrow. It will be a very busy day." With that, everypony except Luna left the room. She probably wanted to speak to me about Kyle.

"Sister, what did you see?"

"I saw that he has gone through an immeasurable amount of torture within the past years. His parents were killed in front of him and he was used as a lab rat for an evil company. It is a miracle how he is still alive, much less still sane."

"Has he been broken, Celestia?"

"No. At least, not yet. That is my biggest fear, however. If a being as powerful as him were to snap, the results could be catastrophic."

"Then we must try as hard as possible to keep him unbroken. Do not worry sister. He will be fine."

"Thank you, Luna. I believe it is time for us both to get some sleep. We have a very busy schedule tomorrow. We must get our guest prepared for his new life."

"Indeed. Sleep well Tia."

"You too, Luna. I love you."

"We…I love you too."

I giggled at my sister's slip up of language. She had almost gotten the hang of it after being back from the moon for a few years, but she would make a mistake every once and a while. I needed to go to sleep, so I closed the doors to my balcony, got in bed, and gently pulled the covers over myself.

"Mother, Father," I said aloud. "Please help me protect Equestria. I fear that something bad will happen soon, and I am unsure of what it is. I hope I am wrong. Please allow me to be wrong about this."

And with those final words, I fell asleep.

**A/N: So how was it? Good? Bad? So-so? I thought it was an alright chapter. It showed a little bit of the plot that will be coming up soon. Remember to R and R and PM me if you ever have any questions. I will see you guys next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4: Breakfast and Intros

**A/N: I am so sorry this took so long to come out. My old laptop decided to crash, but I had my chapters saved onto a flash drive so I didn't lose them. I had to find my old Microsoft Office CD so that I could put it on my new laptop. I have been extremely busy with work and karate. Also, I have started to thoroughly read my story, and I can say this: I'm typing WAY too fast for my own good. I said that I wouldn't make a few mistakes, but I've made, at least, three or four typing mistakes per chapter. I'm really disappointed in myself, truth be told. I really need to slow down when typing these things.**

**Nightmare Actual: Thank you for asking that. That is a very good question. Assuming Kyle can turn into different species that are not infected with the Blacklight virus, it would depend entirely on what form the changeling was in. If the changeling was in its normal, insect-like state, he would take the form of the changeling. If the changeling was in the form of another pony instead of its insect state, he would take the form of that pony the changeling was impersonating. The virus only makes a copy of the immediate state that the being is in. **

**godzillafan1: All will be revealed in due time. I have an idea of who I want him to go with, but I haven't set it in stone yet.**

**devildog452: Hell yeah he is! I couldn't leave out one of my favorite characters!**

**Productive faffer: As I just said, all will be revealed in due time.**

**Chapter 4: Breakfast and Intros**

I hated the morning. I absolutely hated the morning. It was the most excruciating part of the day. I never had gotten how some people work up a 4:00 in the morning. I simply couldn't grasp the concept of waking up at some ungodly hour for nothing. The way I saw it, sleep was good. Sleep was what I had waiting for me every night, and I openly welcomed it.

"Why the hell am I up already," I complained. "What damn time is it" I opened my eyes and was instantly shocked with where I was. I slowly looked around, only to remember the events of yesterday.

"Oh, shit. It wasn't a dream after all. I have to go train some wimpy ass guards!" I didn't want to get out of bed, but I knew I had to lest one of those annoying ponies come in and try to get me. I wasn't particularly in the mood to be bothered with, at the moment. I slowly dragged myself out of bed and to my pile of clothes that I threw on the floor the night before. I dug in my pants and pulled out my phone. It read 6:28 A.M.

"Really life? Did you seriously make me get up at 6:30 in the morning? Why?"

I was angry at myself. I should have slept a little longer, but, apparently, my body didn't want to. Deciding it was time I got over it. I threw on my jeans and walked to the window. I rolled it up and let a cool morning breeze roll in. I stood there for a few minutes enjoying one of the things I hadn't really felt before.

Soon I thought that I might as well get dressed. Making my way to my clothes, I got my socks, boots, and boot knife. I quickly put on the items on in order. As I finished tying up my second boot, I heard a knock at the door.

"Come on in," I called out. As the door opened, I was met with the sight of the archaic-speaking Luna.

"Hello, Kyle," She began.

"Hey," I replied while reaching down for my t-shirt, and standing up. "What's up?"

"We came to-," She said but stopped. I looked at her questioningly before I noticed that she was staring at all of the scars on my chest.

"You gonna finish your sentence or are you gonna keep staring at my body?" Luna shook her head and blushed slightly in embarrassment.

"We came to retrieve thou for breakfast. Celestia, you, and I all have a very busy schedule today, and we must get to each of the errands before nightfall."

"Alright. Let me finish getting ready."

"Take your time." I threw my shirt on and then put on my knife belt. I quickly threw my hoodie on along with my mask. I then put my jacket on and put my hood up.

"Ready."

With that, we left towards the dining room. I was curious about some things so I decided to ask Luna some stuff about this country.

"Hey, Luna," I said.

"Yes?"

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? I'm still unsure of a few things about this place."

"Of course, Kyle. Ask whatever you may like."

"What is the name of this country?"

"Equestria." Equestria? Seriously? Again, who writes this stuff?

"Wow. Original name. Second question. So far, I've seen four races of ponies. I've seen winged ponies, horned ponies, normal ponies, and then your type. I'm assuming you call the winged ponies pegasi and the horned ponies are unicorns."

"Indeed, thou… you are correct. The normal ponies are called "earth ponies" and I am an alicorn, as well as Celestia, Cadance, and Twilight. How did you know of pegasi and unicorns though?"

"Pegasi are a part of a certain type of mythology where I came from. Unicorns are more of a fantasy than mythology, but I'd be willing to bet that they're in mythology somewhere."

"Interesting. I am eager to learn more about your culture. Perhaps later if we have some spare time?"

"I don't see why not."

"Great. I am eager to hear more of your world, as would Twilight Sparkle, I believe."

"Also, what are the marks on your flanks? They have to be for more than decoration."

"Those are what we call "cutie marks". A pony usually gets it while they are young, but there have been cases when a pony would not get their cutie mark until around their mid-age"

"Who decided to name them cutie marks? Do the males, at least, call them destiny marks, or something?"

"No. We do not know who gave them that name, but it has always stuck. You would have to ask Tia about that."

"One last question, Luna."

"What is it?"

"I've heard you multiple times speaking in a different style than everyone else. Why is that?"

"That is a rather long story. It is still a sensitive matter to us, also. Would you mind if Tia told you instead?"

"Of course I wouldn't. Are you sure that you don't mind her telling me?"

"Yes, I am sure. I appreciate you for being so kind, even when we have hardly met each other. You are a great friend indeed."

I was slightly taken aback by what she had said. She called me her friend when we had hardly known each other for a few minutes. Don't get me wrong, I had friends when I was normal. Loads of them. I just didn't expect her to call me a friend after a small conversation's worth of communication. These ponies must have been very friendly to be as accepting of someone so quickly. In the small conversation we had, a human would only consider ourselves as acquaintances.

We spoke no more until we got to the dining room which was only for a few more seconds of walking. Like all of the other important rooms, this one had massive double doors. Wanting to show respect for the one pony who had treated me nicely while I was here, I opened the doors and allowed Luna to walk in before me.

"Thank you, Kyle. You have a gentleman side to you as well. That is good."

"Just opening the door for a female. No big deal." She gave a smile in response and led me to a very large banquet table. When I say large, I meant large. This table was utterly _massive. _There must have been, at least, thirty freaking chairs on each side of the table with one chair at each end.

When we had entered the dining room I noticed Celestia at the head of the table with Cadance, Shining Armor, and Twilight on one side of the table and five ponies whom I had never met on the other side. They were probably some nobles or something like that.

The first one was an orange mare. She wore a hat that looked like a typical cowboy's hat. I saw that her cutie mark was three apples, and she had her mane done up in a ponytail, ironically.

The second pony was a white mare with a purple mane. Her mane looked like she had spent _hours_ curling it. I expected her to be the snobbiest bitch of the group. She also had three diamonds for a cutie mark.

The next pony down the line was one with a ruffled looking rainbow mane and tail and a cyan body color. She had the cutie mark of a cloud with a lightning bolt striking out of it. I didn't want to start judging a book by its cover but she looked like she was… well… you know what I mean.

The next could not have been any more overboard of a color. She was pink. And I mean she was _pink_. I wondered if she had some tragic accident with food coloring or dye or something because there was no way anyone would like a color _that_ much. Her mane and tail were extremely poofy and reminded me of cotton candy with an actual shape. Her cutie mark was that of three balloons.

The final one also had pink, but not nearly as much as the previous pony did. She had a pink mane and a pale yellow body. Her mane was almost fully straight, but it curled towards the end of it. She had a cutie mark of three butterflies.

As I walked in the room, I gained stares from all of the ponies present.

"There you two are. I was wondering when you would show up," Celestia said.

"Kyle wanted to ask us some questions," Luna replied. "We made sure that most of his questions were answered to the best of our abilities."

"That is good. How did you sleep, Kyle?"

"I slept fine," I said. I didn't particularly like Celestia, at the time. I wanted to be as brief as humanly possible with her.

"That is pleasing to hear. Please have a seat. We are about to eat breakfast." Luna took a seat right next to Celestia that was empty. Cadance probably saved it for her so that Luna and Celestia could sit next to each other. I decided to have a seat on the same side as the "royalty". They were the only ones I knew here. It would make things less awkward, probably.

"Kyle," Celestia spoke. "I would like you to meet Twilight's friends. Twilight and them have been friends for the past few years and have gone through many challenges together. Why don't you introduce yourself girls?"

"Ah'm Applejack," the orange one greeted. "Ah run Sweet Apple Acres down in Ponyville. We got the best apples in Equestria."

"Nice to meet you, Applejack."Applejack reached across the table and gave me a firm handshake. She was a worker, that much I could tell. I was then interrupted by a face full of pink. The same one that had been an overload of pink. She had somehow leaped(or transported. I couldn't tell) across the table and directly into my face.

"HiI'mPinkiePieandI'veneverseenyoubeforesothatmust meanthatyou'renewandifyou'renewthenthatmeanthatIge ttothrowapartyandIlovethrowingpartiesfornewponiesd oyoulikepartiesIloveparties!"

"HOLY SHIT!" That sudden flash of pink in my face was enough for me to fall back in my chair and grab one of my throwing knives. I quickly grabbed one and chucked it at her, followed by the other two I had on my belt. She, somehow, dodged them all and stood on the table still. How the hell did she do that? She just completely negated the laws of physics themselves. How is that possible?

I simply laid there on the floor staring up at her as she rambled. She never took a breath. Not even once. She was going on about something like pickles, oatmeal, and parties. She was soon shut up by the white mare.

"Pinkie, deary, you're frightening him." The one named Pinkie Pie sat back down in her seat in the same flash of quickness that she got up. I recovered my senses, pulled my chair back up, and sat down again.

"How the…," I wondered.

"Don't try to question it," Twilight said. "I tried to figure it out myself, but I only got hurt doing so. It will save you the trouble if you act like it happens every day." I gave her a nod in response. I was interrupted by the mare who had made Pinkie Pie shut up.

"I am Rarity, darling. It is nice to meet you."

"Likewise," I said.

"I run the Carousel Boutique down in Ponyville. If you are ever needing some new clothes, be sure to stop by. I would be proud to make you some new clothes. The ones you are wearing now look rather garish."

…

…

She had better hope that she didn't mean my jacket. She would be having nightmares for weeks if she just spoke bad about my jacket.

"Does my jacket look bad," I asked her.

"What?"

"I said, does my jacket look bad." I had raised my voice slightly, and she noticed this. She gave a nervous look towards Celestia, who had quickly shook her head "no". Celestia knew why this jacket meant so much to me, and she wanted to avoid anyone getting hurt.

"Of course not, darling. It goes just perfectly with your… skull… mask."

I dismissed her nervous glances and focused on the next pony down the line.

"I'm Rainbow Dash," she said proudly. "Fastest flier in Equstria!"

"You know something, Rainbow Dash?" She looked at me curiously.

"You remind me of a guy who I killed yesterday. He thought that his shit didn't stink, and he ended up dying." It's obvious who I was talking about, though she didn't know that. I hated boasters. No matter what they were like, I despised them. They all think that they were higher than everyone else on the planet. I could see some of the ponies flinch at my profanity. I couldn't really care less. If I had to endure them while I was here, I would make them endure me.

Rainbow Dash simply stayed silent and glared at me, and I glared back. She soon looked away.

The next pony in line was the one whom I had nearly killed. I didn't want to speak to her again for fear of what she may go on about, so I focused my gaze on the last pony.

She was a pale yellow color with a long, pink mane. She had a cuite mark of three pink butterflies. I waited for a few moments for her to speak. She didn't so I decided that I would start this introduction.

"What's your name?"

"Umm… My name is Flutters…" She mumbled quietly. I couldn't make out what she said.

"What'd you say?"

"My name is Flutter…"

"I'm sorry, but I can't hear you. Can you speak up?" She gave me a squeak in response. I quizzically looked at Twilight in hopes that she could tell me what was going on.

"Her name is Fluttershy," Twilight said. "She is shy if you couldn't already tell."

"Her name was a dead giveaway," I said. "Since introductions are out of the way, I would like to eat. What's for breakfast?"

"The chefs are cooking our meals now," Celestia said. "We will be eating soon."

"Good."

"Kyle?"

"What?"

"I thought that you may have wanted to order for yourself. I didn't have the chefs prepare you anything, but I will tell them what you would like when they come with our meals. What would you like to eat?"

"I'll have some scrambled eggs with sausages. Get me a glass of milk too while you're at it." As I finished saying this, I was met with frightened looks from all of the ponies at the table.

"Did you say you wanted sausages," Celestia asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Meat is not eaten in Equestria, Kyle. Us ponies are herbivores. There are only a select few places that serve meat and they are on the border of Gryphonia and Equestria."

"That's going to be a problem. I need my meat. I'll go hunt some rabbit or deer or something if I need to." This elicited a nervous squeak from Fluttershy. I looked at her questioningly and it hit me. She must have been an animal lover. It made sense since she was so shy. It would take that kind of patience if you wanted to deal with animals. Twilight confirmed my theory when she stated that Fluttershy looked after many different kinds of animals back at her cottage.

"I'm sorry Fluttershy, but I'm not going to change myself. I won't take any animals from your cottage, but I can't promise anything about hunting in the wild."

"Thank you," Fluttershy timidly responded. I was surprised that she had been so bold as to directly speak to me. "But could I maybe ask you a favor?"

"What is it?"

"If you do end up going… hunting… could you please make it quick? I don't want any of those creatures to be in any more pain than they already will be."

"I promise. I also promise that I will only go for fully grown male animals."

"Why," Rarity chimed in. "Why only full-grown males?"

"It's how we hunt where I'm from. We don't kill females or young animals. The mother is the one who mainly takes care of the animal and we need the young to grow up so that we can later hunt them. I always saw it as an honorable thing to do. But then, you have people who completely disregard this and kill whatever they can get."

"That's dreadful, darling. The last part, of course. I do find it admirable how you do not hurt the mares or foals. It is honorable that you would do that." I gave her a nod in response.

As the meals came, I settled on scrambled eggs. I, unfortunately, couldn't get any meat with my meal, but I suppose I would have to deal without for now. As the ponies ate they had asked me various questions like what the place I came from was like and where I lived before. I answered as much as I thought they needed to hear. It wasn't long before I saw Celestia's ears perk up.

"Kyle," She began. "You may want to prepare yourself for what is about to happen."

"What do you mea-," I said but was cut off. I could see a bright flash from behind me and quickly dived across the table to get away from it. A bright flash usually meant a flash grenade and that usually meant that shit was about to go down. I sailed over Rainbow Dash and rolled on the ground while pulling out my two flesheater knives.

As the light settled down, I heard a voice loudly yell in a merry voice.

"Hello everypony," It began. "How are you all doing today. Splendid I hope. I heard there was a new creature in the castle so I just _had _to come and see it. Where is-"

Needless to say, I was shocked upon what I was laying my eyes upon. It looked like God had made this thing when he was a little tipsy. It had mixed up parts everywhere. It had a goat's head, a lion paw, and eagle talon, a dragon tail and many other parts. I honestly didn't know what the hell to call it.

"Well then, what have we here? It seems it is already trying to greet me!"

"Kyle," Celestia said. "This is Discord, the god of chaos. Discord, this is Kyle Drake, or Death, as he likes to be called. He is the new creature you have heard about."

"Ah, yes. You do somewhat resemble the Grim Reaper. Are you related?" Discord snickered slightly at the end of his sentence.

"I wish," I said. "I could kill people without a consequence, and get away with it." Seeing no other reason to be on alert, I sheathed my knives and started walking back to the table.

"A feisty one, aren't we? I feel like you and I will be _tremendously_ great friends. Won't we Death?" Discord stuck his eagle talon out for a handshake. It was then I noticed exactly how tall he was. Both of us were the same height as each other. We were the tallest ones in the room. I gave him a firm handshake from across the table.

Discord apparently thought the same thing because he proceeded to tease the other ponies about it.

"Celestia, you didn't tell me he was so tall! You can't leave this important information out! He is the one being who has been able to match my height and have an intelligent conversation!"

I liked this guy. He seemed like a fun time to be around, but he seemed too much like Pinkie Pie. Maybe not as hyperactive though.

"You know, Celestia," I said with a hidden grin. "He _is_ right. You ponies are pretty damn short."

"Oh mother help me," Celestia mumbled.

"Oh, I love him," Discord exclaimed. "We simply _must _go take a stroll around Canterlot. You and I would have so much fun!"

"Maybe some other time, dude. I'm busy today."

"Oh, well. Some other time then. We really should get to know each other. I feel like we would be the best of friends."

I took a glance over at Celestia and could see her burying her forehooves into her temples. To see her like this was a godsend. I would probably never see her like this again. This moment was going in the memory banks.

"Kyle," She said. "It is time for you to go train the guards. They should be lining up now."

"Alright. Who's taking me?"

"Princess Luna."

"You have him training those pathetic guards," Discord asked. "Have you finally lost it Celestia?"

"No I have not. The guards need training and Kyle is the perfect one to do this."

They argued for a few minutes before Luna walked up to me.

"Right this way, Kyle. I will escort you to the barracks."

"Thanks, Princess." We started to exit.

"Princess? I have not heard you call anyone by their official name since being here. Why call me a princess now?"

"Because Celestia's the only one who hasn't gained my respect. Everyone else has."

"I appreciate that, Kyle. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Princess. Now can we hurry? I'd like to get this torture over with." Luna laughed as I said this.

"Of course, Death. Let us hurry."

I smirked as she said this. It was the first time anyone here had called me by the name I preferred. It was time I got my new life started.

**A/N: How was it? Good? Bad? Alright? Review or PM me if you have a question. Also I thought I would throw it out there that I have an Xbox Live account. My gamertag is Death Re4p3r66. If you want to play sometime just send me a friend request and we'll play! I would like to remind you all that I am extremely open-minded and a very nice guy, I think. I have said enough now so everyone have a good day!**


	5. Chapter 5: The Beast Within

**A/N: Long update again, huh? I can't express how sorry I am, guys. I seriously am. I don't really have an excuse for it, but my mojo for this story has definitely gone down. It's not writer's block, but I just haven't wanted to write. But thanks to the recent reviews I feel like I can start again with this story. Let's get to the reviews then, shall we?**

**Productive faffer: Just wait and see what happens between them. It's going to be great.**

**Seniorcopycat: I will get around to reading your stories, dude. Trust me. I will read them. Thank you for the review**

**UnfitDinosaur: Thank you for the compliment. I really appreciate it. Keep it up on your story too. I really do enjoy reading it.**

**Bayonate: I, again, appreciate it. Thank you for giving this HiE a chance. I will never forget it. And give Katbeary my regards. I hope she gets well soon so you guys can continue with the story. And I don't find chapter length to be the most important. I think that as long that the story is written well, the length isn't very important. **

**godzillafan1: Celestia, believe it or not, is my favorite pony. But they do have those stories that make me absolutely hate her guts. I know what you mean though. **

**devildog452: Yes, we will. I've got some plans for Discord later on.**

**Guardian55: You have no idea how happy you just made me. I'm so glad that you had good thoughts about this fic after reading it. Also, I'm aware of my stupid-ass mistakes that I made in the first 3 chapters. I am still pissed at myself for letting that simple stuff go. Bad grammar is one of my biggest peeves. **

**P.S. Yes, I do hate Rainbow Dash. I think I'm going to make her Death's new rival, but have them have some sort of competitive friendship with each other. I don't know. I don't like how boastful she is. Her heart is in the right place but her mouth isn't.**

**TXI Primomacha: I don't know if you have a fanfiction account, but thank you for sending me a friend request. I would like to play a game with you sometime, if you don't mind.**

**I have rambled on for a while now, but I wanted to give a shout out to a story**

**MLP: Believing in the Impossible by Guardian55: People, this story should be on your favorites list already. It is an extremely well done story that I have loved from the first word. As of now, it only had two reviews which I would love to know why. It doesn't make sense.**

**Enough rambling, story time.**

Chapter 5: The Beast Within

It had taken a few minutes, but Luna and I had eventually come to the exit of the castle. As we walked we simply asked each other questions about ourselves like our favorite hobbies, interests, etc… Believe it or not, Luna would probably be considered a Goth back on earth. She told me that she liked the darker sides of life. Not sadness and anger sort of things but things like bats and skulls and such. I didn't think that these ponies were capable of darker thoughts. Maybe I would show Luna some heavy metal later on.

As we exited the castle, Luna led me around towards the rear of the castle and to the barracks. As the barracks came into sight, I noticed how similar to air force wings they were. They looked like they were made of tin, and they had the odd pentagon shape to them as well. There were sidewalks leading from all of the doors and forming into one large sidewalk. This large sidewalk led to a large concrete square. I assumed this was where the guards formed up or trained.

As Luna and I approached the arena, I pulled out my phone to check the time. It read 7:00 A.M.

"Damn," I said.

"What is wrong," Luna asked.

"It's 7:00."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"If these guards want to be guards then they will have to put on the big boy pants. They're getting up at 5:00 from now on."

"Isn't that a little cruel to make them get up that early?"

"No. For the military that I come from, I think 5:00 is normal. Maybe even 4:00."

Luna went wide-eyed as I said this.

"How?! When do those poor souls get sleep?"

"When they go to bed at night. Human military is serious. They train to be good at what they do. They're not some pushovers like these 'royal' guards."

"Death?"

"Hmm?"

"I wouldn't want to wage war against your kind."

"I don't think anyone would, but don't worry. I'll make your guards into a force of unstoppable killing."

"I don't think that is what Celestia wanted you to do."

"I don't care. If she wants me to train these guards then I'm going to _train_ them."

"I pray for these poor stallions and what they are about to go through."

"Wish them luck because they're going to need it."

"I already have. I will depart now as I have errands to run. I will come and retrieve you around noon for lunch and give you a layout of the day from then on."

"Will do, Princess."

"Farewell for now, Kyle."

Luna quickly took flight after she said this and left me there alone. I decided to simply wait for all of the guards to show up. I had nothing to do except stand there and twiddle my thumbs. I started to take a look around before my head starting pounding. I quickly gripped my head in my hands and fell to my knees. It felt as if I had taken a tank shot to the head.

I failed to mention this before, but every now and then my head starts pulsing extremely badly. I had started having them after I had been turned into a prototype. I never could figure out what caused them, so I had ultimately dismissed them as random headaches. This one was, by far, the worst one I had ever had. I usually only felt like I had a minor headache, but this one gave me a horrible migraine.

The feeling soon went away, but I couldn't help but wonder why that pulsing was so much worse than the others. I was regaining my thoughts and starting to stand up when everything around me suddenly changed, and by change I mean morph.

I was still standing in the concrete arena, but everything looked like it was going through an apocalypse. The sky was blood red, all of the buildings around the castle looked like a bomb went off in them. I saw the bodies of countless ponies littering the streets, some of them flaming and charred. Suddenly, I heard something behind me.

I didn't know what I was laying my eyes upon. It looked like a human, but at the same time it didn't. It was a dark grey color. I couldn't say skin because it didn't look like the creature had any skin. All I saw was dark grey, raw muscle. It had chains wrapped around both wrists, ankles, and its waist. It wore burnt jeans and a black pair of boots. It was flaming at the shoulders and I could make out the small shape of electricity branching off of it every now and then.

What was possibly the most terrifying part of it was the face, if you could call it that. There was no visible part of its head besides the eyes and mouth due to a hood that it was wearing. The hood was charred around the base and casted a permanent shadow over the creature's entire face. Its eyes were a bright yellow and its teeth were a stunning white. It stood there with a massive grin full of sharp looking teeth.

Both of us simply stood there looking at each other. I didn't know what this thing was or where I was at, but it would tell me.

"Who are you," I inquired.

Silence.

"Where am I?"

More silence. I waited for a few seconds before asking again.

"Are you capable of speech?"

That was when it spoke.

"We are one," It said. Its voice sounded like a demonic hissing.

"What?"

"We are one."

"Who?"

"You."

I was starting to get pissed. I wanted answers and this thing was being cryptic as all hell.

"Why don't you start making some sense?"

It progressed towards me, and I stayed in place. I didn't want to underestimate this thing, but it didn't look like I had anywhere else to go. It stopped about three feet from where I was.

"You and I. We are one."

"What the hell do you mean? I've never heard of anything like you before."

It quickly grabbed me by the throat and held me up. I tried to escape but it had an iron grip, and somehow, my powers weren't working.

"We are one," It said. What happened next, I don't want to repeat, but I guess I have to.

It ripped my mask off of me and lowered me down slightly. I was still trying to break its grip, but it wasn't working. I tried kicking it, but that, somehow, didn't work either. I figured that I must have been a normal human again.

After I kicked the beast, it set me down and forced my mouth open. It then turned into a black mist and went down my throat. The taste was horrible and the thought of what just happened was worse. I felt extreme pain in my entire body. If I could hazard a guess, I would say that it was trying to take control of me. Out the corner of my eye I noticed the form of a pony. It looked as if it was covered in metal with a red robe, but I wasn't too sure. The current pain was taking hold of my mind.

Before I could make another move, everything was back to normal. All of the buildings were intact and the corpses on the street disappeared. I looked around to make sure that no one had seen me, and to my relief, no one had.

I stood up slowly and decided to take a breather. I didn't know what the hell happened so I wanted to take it slow for a little bit. I needed to tell Luna about this when I went to get lunch. I tried my powers to see if they still worked, and fortunately, they did. I let out a sigh of relief. I really needed to tell Luna about this when we went for lunch.

I, again, took out my phone to check the time and I saw that it was 7:15.

'Those guards better get here soon," I thought.

It was another 15 minutes before I saw a few guards walking out of the barracks. I figured that the time they were to be formed up by was 7:30 A.M. It took a few minutes, but all of the guards formed up into their correct formation. As all of the guards got settled I saw one guard dressed in purple armor come around the same corner I did on my way here. He must have been an officer.

"Hello, Kyle," He spoke. I recognized the voice as Shining Armor.

"Hey," I responded.

"You ready to train?"

"I'm not. These kittens are."

"Ha-ha, very funny. Let me brief them of your status really fast."

I nodded.

"Company, attention," Shining Armor yelled. All of the guards quickly locked up and looked straight ahead. "Some of you may know this human here from the interruption of Princess Twilight Sparkle's coronation yesterday. To those of you who don't, His name is Kyle Drake. He prefers the name "Death" though. Princess Celestia has made a decision of what he is to do while he stays here in Equestria."

"Due to the actions of some of you yesterday, Princess Celestia has decided to have you stallions go through some extra training. Kyle here happens to have quite a bit of military experience under his belt, and Princess Celestia thinks that he is the perfect candidate for training you. As of this moment onward, you people will treat him no differently than any of your other commanders, such as me. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sir, yes, sir," The company yelled back.

"Kyle, they're all yours." And with that Shining Armor left.

I nodded in response and walked down the front line of ponies. I looked into every one of their eyes until one of them met my eyes. That was a big no-no.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING AT," I screamed. "YOU ARE IN THE POSITION OF ATTENTION! YOU DO _NOT_ MOVE ANYTHING ON YOUR BODY WHILE YOU ARE IN THE POSITION OF ATTENTION! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" The guard stood stock still.

I moved to the next line of ponies. All of them had, apparently, taken note of what I just said and kept their eyes forward. I had only just noticed this, but I found out that all of their coat colors were grayscale. Did they only allow ponies who were grayscale into the guard?

I inspected all of the ponies in all of the lines. They had a few that would slip up and I would yell at them, but other than that they were pretty well disciplined. For now.

I decided to warm them up with some pushups, sit-ups, mountain climbers, and other various exercises. I also had them run back and forth across the arena, as I called it. I noticed that there were only a few guards panting, all of which were unicorns. If I could take a guess, I would say that the earth ponies were more of a heavy unit than any other type. The pegasi were probably scouts, and the unicorns were probably used for miscellaneous objectives.

"Panting already," I asked. "You're gonna hate the next few hours." All of the guards groaned in response. "Complaining makes it worse, guys. Ten more sprints for everyone."

I may have been being too harsh on them, but if Celestia wanted me to train them, I would train them how _I_ wanted. I would train these ponies how I would train my own guards, if I had any.

"Once you finish your sprints, take a breather and grab some water. I don't want any of you passing out from dehydration."

That made the guards speed up big time. They must have been thirsty.

By the time the guards had finished getting water, all of them were panting. Not heavily, but it looked like they had gotten quite the workout. It would still be a few hours before lunch so I figured I would see what these ponies were capable of.

* * *

The next few hours must have been a living hell for the guards. I worked them through so many exercises it was sick. I had a few of them pass out, and some started throwing up or dry heaving. Most of them were still standing though. I, honestly, didn't expect them to be this good. I had to give them props for surviving… for now.

I heard the sound of clopping hooves behind me and turned to see Princess Luna walking my way. It must have been time for lunch. I decided to dismiss the guards to go to the mess hall and get something to eat.

"Alright, boys, it's time to eat. Go to the mess hall and grab something to eat. You guys have done very well. When you form up after lunch we'll start on hand… er… hoof-to-hoof combat. Got it," I explained.

"Aye, sir," all of the guards responded. With that, they all trotted to the mess hall. Many of them were complaining, but I would too if I had to go through the same stuff.

"Hello again, Death. How art thou," Luna asked.

"Ask the guards. Not me," I said.

"Oh, dear. How hard did thou work the guards?"

"I managed to get some to pass out."

"Kyle! Thou cannot do that! Dost thou knowest what Celestia would say if she found out? She asked thou to train them not kill them!"

"I'm not scared of her. And relax. I made sure that they were hydrated throughout the day. I don't work at Gentek." Luna gave me a puzzled look as I said this. "Inside joke."

"With the past events aside, we wish to eat lunch. We are getting hungry."

"Alright. Also, what's up with the dialect?"

"We…I apologize. I got tired of trying to speak in a new manner. I simply forgot for a moment. Anyways, let us hurry. Princess Twilight and Princess Cadance are waiting at our destination for us."

"Lead the way."

The trip was silent save for the few questions Luna asked me about how I trained the guards. I didn't hide anything from her. Needless to say, she was shocked. Luna suggested that I tone it down a bit for the guards' sake. I told her I would as I had worked them a little too harshly. I, honestly, had pushed them a little too hard. I would need to commend them for that.

Soon though, Luna and I came to a fancy looking restaurant with tables outside of it. I looked around for the two princesses who were accompanying us to lunch, but I couldn't find them. All of the tables had an umbrella on top, and my height only allowed me to look at the umbrellas. It was a nuisance sometimes to be as tall as I was.

"There they are," Luna said. "Come."

I followed behind her to a table close to a front window of the restaurant. As we both sat down, I saw not two ponies but three. Accompanying the two other princesses was Shining Armor in his cheesy purple armor.

"Hello," All of them greeted me.

"Hey," I responded.

"So," Cadance began. "how was the training?"

"Those guards won't be able to walk without being sore for a week. Especially the ones who passed out."

"What," Shining Armor said. "Didn't Princess Celestia tell you to train them, not kill them?" He was starting to get riled up.

"You know, Princess Luna said the exact same thing. Yes, she said to train them, but I want to train them my way. Anyways, the hard part is over. We're going into combat next. It'll be easy for them."

"I still don't like _my _guards being treated like that. It's wrong."

"I'll let you know that if Celestia wants me to train them, then I will train them. How I want. They're lucky though. I could have done much worse things to them if I wished."

"Like what?"

"I could have put my hands on them and not have allowed them to get water."

Shining Armor stayed silent.

"Aaanyways," Twilight said. "I'm glad that you can make the guards work like that. But could you please tone it down a bit? It sounds like you're working them a little too hard, and I'm worried for them. They are the ones protecting Canterlot, after all."

"I will, Princess. Princess Luna here already told me to tone it down. I promised I would. I admit I was working them pretty hard. By pony standards, anyway."

"Thank you."

"Excuse me," Luna chimed in. "but I think that we are all hungry. Shall we order?"

"Yes," Cadance responded. "Waiter!" A unicorn quickly made his way over to the table.

"Yes, your highness, what may I get you," he said respectfully.'

"We would like to order, please."

"Of course. What would you like to eat?" The waiter pulled out a little notepad and pen with he said this.

"I'll have the daisy sandwich with a small order of corn, please."

"Of course. And a drink?"

"Get me some grapefruit juice."

"Yes ma'am." The waitress looked at Twilight.

"And for you, ma'am?"

"I'll have the daisy sandwich as well, but I would like some carrots to go along with it," Twilight said.

"Excellent choice. And what would you like to drink?"

"I would like a glass of water please."

"Very well. Princess Luna?"

"I would like the fried apple slices and fruit dip alongside an orange with a glass of strawberry wine to drink."

"Yes, your highness."

The waiter looked at me.

"I don't know what I want yet. Go to him," I said pointing at Shining Armor.

"I'll have what she's having," he said as he pointed at Cadance.

"Alright."

I couldn't find any items on the menu that were okay for human consumption. I just had to improvise. Or I could try to have them make something for me especially.

"Could I make a special request," I asked.

"Of course," the unicorn replied.

"Do you have potatoes here?"

"Yes, sir, we do."

"In that case I'll take an order of hay fries, but instead of making them out of hay could you make them out of potatoes?"

"I suppose we could, sir. Anything else?"

"I'll take an apple with a glass of water."

"Very well. All of your meals shall be out shortly."

I didn't order something very healthy, but I had to improvise since Equestria didn't have meat. They had a few things that I could have eaten, but I don't like vegetables really. Besides potatoes. My Irish side liked to show itself.

"Princess Luna," I said.

"Yes," she asked.

"I need to talk to you about something. It doesn't have to be in private, however."

"What is it?"

"Something happened when you left this morning after you left and before the guards showed up."

"What?"

I began to tell her, Twilight, Cadance, and Shining Armor about my vision. The more I continued, the more their expressions became distressed. I didn't know if they knew something or if they were worried, but something was wrong about what happened. As I finished they began asking questions.

"Was there anything else that you saw during the vision," Twilight asked. "Anything at all?"

"Actually," I began. "there was something else I noticed. As the thing was going down my throat, I saw a pony out the corner of my eye. I couldn't see his face very clearly, but I could see him dressed in what looked like metal and a red robe. I didn't pay him any mind, however." As I said this, all of the ponies' expressions went grave, and their faces paled. "What's wrong? Who's that pony?"

All of them began telling me about a pony named "King Sombra". He, apparently, was extremely evil, and kept a place called the Crystal Empire under harsh slavery. He sounded like a class A tyrant. He sounded like someone I wouldn't mind killing over and over again. And who comes up with a shitty name like that? King Sombra? Really? King Dark? Then again, I really shouldn't be worrying about his name, but more so about his appearance in m vision.

"So this Sombra asshole enslaved the Crystal Empire and caused a lot of misery in his rule. He was stopped, came back a thousand years later, and lost again? He sounds like a cockroach to me. When you think you put him down he just pops back up again," I said.

"That is true," Luna began. "but the fact that he appeared in that dreadful vision of yours means that something bad may happen soon. I will tell Celestia about this tonight after I raise the moon."

"Uhh…"

"What?"

"What do you mean 'raise the moon'?"

"That is true. No one has told you yet. Celestia and I raise the sun and moon. Celestia raises the sun and I raise the moon." I simply gave her an incredulous look. "It isn't very hard to believe."

"If you come from a place that science explains almost everything, yes it is."

"Why," Twilight asked. "How do they work on your planet?"

"As I said, science. Do you all know what gravity is?" They all nodded. "How about inertia?" I gained more nods. "Okay. First things first, the sun and moon don't 'rise'. They appear to, but they don't. The sun is in the center of my planetary system: The Milky Way. The planets orbit around the sun at different speeds due to gravity. The sun has a gravitational pull that pulls eight planets to it. The gravity pulls the planets towards the sun while inertia forces the planet to spin around the sun. The inertia that the planets have balances out the gravity of the sun so that they don't all burn up. How fast the planets orbit around the sun depends on how far away they are. The closer they are to the sun, the faster they orbit and the farther they are, the slower they orbit."

I gained shocked expressions from all of the ponies. Either it was amazing or some other reason, but they probably didn't think that science was that prominent.

"That is amazing," Twilight exclaimed. "I have to ask you more questions about your world's science! We could, more than likely, learn so much more from you? Do you have magic?"

"No. My planet is strictly technological." Twilight's face shone so bright that she looked like her face was about to melt off from the heat. I quickly stopped her before she could begin. "I will tell you some other time, but for now I need to get back to the guards." I checked my phone to see that it was almost 1:15 P.M. "What time do the guards form up after lunch?"

"At about 2:00," Shining Armor said.

"I should probably be on my way then. I would like to get this torture done with as soon as possible."

"I'm free for the rest of the day," Twilight said. "I would like to see how you train the guards."

"As would I," Cadance added. "I think Shining Armor would too."

"I guess so," he said. "It beats wandering around Canterlot for the rest of the day."

"Fine then," I said. "Princess Luna, you coming too?"

"I suppose," she said. "I would feel left out if I didn't go." Luna added a grin at the end of her sentence.

"I have my own party now. Yay," I said sarcastically. I didn't mind them coming. Truth be told, I would rather them come. Just so they get a good rundown of my experience and why I'm not one to be screwed with if they didn't already get it.

…

…

I'm such a hypocrite.

* * *

Once we arrived at the arena, the five of us simply talked to one another. I had figured out that Cadance was, in fact, a crystal pony. That's why she was so worried about Sombra. And she was Twilight's old foalsitter. They showed me their little dance that they did to greet one another, and needless to say, I am scarred at seeing a pony shake its ass.

Soon, all of the guards showed up and quickly got into formation. They didn't move one solid inch.

"Wow," Twilight said. "I never thought that they could be wound up _that_ fast."

"You, obviously, haven't seen human military actions and consequences then."

"I wonder why."

"I don't know either, Princess." I chuckled a little at the end. "Company, attention! Right face!" The guards all turned to their right at the same time. I, honestly, hadn't seen a company do a command all together like that. All of the memories I have says that the facing commands are almost never perfect. Though I assume that I simply haven't consumed the right people to know that.

"Left face!" The ponies all turned back to the front and looked at us five. "Good job, boys. At ease." The guards all relaxed. "As you can see we have some guests with us now. They have come to see you guys beat each other. I will be honest with you all, I have no idea how a pony fights. I really don't. But I will do my damn near best to make sure that you all get the proper combat training."

I picked a random guard out from the front of the line and asked him to show me a royal guard's fighting stance. Surprisingly, he stood up on his hind legs and held his hooves in front of his face much like a human's typical fighting stance. I quizzically looked at Shining Armor to see if he could explain.

"The reason why they stand like that," he began. "is because we train them to do that from the start. A pony's anatomy is awkward and not good for hoof- to-hoof combat so the armor the guards wear is enchanted. It molds the bones to a perfect position so that they can still walk normally, but can fight if the need arises."

I gave him a nod in response.

'This is going to be much easier for me.' I thought.

"I assume they all know basic kicks and such."

"Yes, they do."

"Good."

* * *

The next few hours I had all of the guards partner up. I took them through a plethora of different techniques such as takedowns, blocks, strikes, and a few other things that I had learned from both my memories and experience. Soon I was informed that it was almost time to wrap up the training. The night guards' shift would be starting soon, and these guards needed to rest.

"Alright, boys it's time to wrap it up. It's getting late." I quickly formed them all up and dismissed them. I noticed that they were staying. I wondered what they were doing until one of the guards walked up to me.

"Hello, sir," He said.

"Why are you all still standing there," I asked him.

"We have a question, sir."

"What is it?"

"We would like to see who would prevail in a fight. You or Captain Shining Armor? We would like to see the two of you fight if it is not a problem."

I looked over my shoulder at Shining Armor for confirmation. I had no problem with it, so that was entirely up to him. I saw Shining Amor nod and pick up his helmet which he had put on the ground. I looked over my other shoulder to see the worried expressions of the three princesses. They nodded, but I could tell that they were uncomfortable with me fighting Shining Armor, Cadance especially. I quickly dismissed their glances and turned back to the guard.

"It will be done. I want you to tell your buddies to make an outline of the arena, and tell them that if we come close to the edge of one side to back away immediately."

"Aye, sir!"

The guard trotted over to the company of guards and gave them my orders. I could hear some of them chanting, some making bets, and some simply talking.

"I think this will be fun," Shining Armor said as he walked up to me. "It's been a while since I've sparred or fought. I can't wait to see what you've got."

"Same here. How should we start this? Both of us at different sides of the arena?"

"Sounds like a plan."

As we both walked over to our sides of the arena, the guards all started cheering. I could see some of the castle servants looking out of the windows of the castle as well as Celestia herself standing next to the other mares. I didn't know what she was doing here, and I didn't care. I still couldn't help but wonder how she got here that fast. That was before I saw Discord appear out of a flash of light with a glass of… chocolate milk?

I quickly dismissed this sight and focused again on walking. As both Shining Armor and I had reached the edges, I saw a guard walk to the middle of the arena.

"Alright, everypony," he began. "this fight is between the Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor and the human known as Kyle Drake."

Why was he announcing this? I thought it was just a little sparring match. It wasn't anything big.

"There will be no rules to this fight except for this one: Do not kill each other. Other than that, go to town on each other. Ready, fight!"

The guard quickly moved back to where he came from. I kept my eyes on him to make sure he was out of harm's way, but I made a mistake by doing that.

Shining Armor decided to rush as soon as the match started and conjured a few magical spears. I looked back just in time to see one coming straight at my face. I ducked underneath it, but just barely. Before I knew it, he sent another one my way followed by yet another. It was difficult to dodge as I wasn't to most agile person ever. My size made sure of that, but I was still able to move out of the way except for the last spear.

It had gotten me through my right bicep. I grunted in minor pain as I pulled out the spear, but I didn't notice what happened to my arm when I pulled out the spear

"Come on," Shining Armor said. "I thought you were skilled at fighting. I didn't think that little hit would almost take you down completely."

"Alright," I mumbled. "You want me to fight?! I'll fight! I'm gonna rip your still beating heart out of your chest you snarky little bitch!"

I quickly ran at Shining Armor. Along the way he summoned multiple swords made of magic as well as putting a shield up around him. I almost reached him before one of the swords swung at my neck with purpose to decapitate me. I narrowly ducked it, spun around and grabbed it, and broke it over my knee. It had the same effects as the magic cuffs did as it shattered like glass and faded away.

I turned to Shining Armor again to find that he was still in the bubble like shield. I saw three more of the magically conjured swords. I would need to deal with them before I went after Shining Armor. One of them attempted to swing at my legs. I brought the same targeted leg up slightly and brought it down hard as the sword went under my foot. One more down, two to go.

I blocked another strike with my forearm as the other sword came for my ribs. I quickly strafed backwards which allowed me to dodge the blow. I grabbed the sword that went for my ribs and brought it above my head to block a strike that the other sword was attempting. The sword I blocked with shattered as the other sword recoiled from the attack. I swiftly grabbed the final sword and struck Shining Armor's shield with it.

The sword shattered.

I figured my hammerfists would be best for this so I shifted my arms into them.**(A/N: To those of you who wish to know what Kyle's powers look like, I would say to just imagine Heller's powers. As for Muscle Mass, imagine Mercer's. If you don't know what either of their powers look like, I would suggest searching for them or checking out my profile. I have explanations for each power.)** I slammed my hands into the shield and attempted to break it, but there was no visible affect. I could see Shining Armor's cocky-ass smile though. I slammed my hands into the shield again to find that Shining Armor flinched slightly as well as the shield shimmering slightly before going back to full power.

'That's it,' I thought. 'He's got a constant magical flow going to that shield. If I can break his concentration then I can get to him.'

I sat there and taunted him. If I made him angry he may charge at me. I didn't stop the assault on his shield though.

"What, bitch? Got nothing to say? I expected as much from a pony as cowardly as you. How your wife found love for you, I'll never know." I saw his eye twitch slightly as well as the shield shimmering yet again. "Struck a nerve, did I? Your wife is your soft spot? Well that's gonna suck for you, bitch boy."

The assault kept going. I switched to my muscle mass since it doubled my melee damage output as well as make me strike faster.

"You know, I wonder what your wife thinks of you in bed. I wonder if she likes it rough. Or does she like it gentle?" I may been too mean right there to both Cadance and Shining Armor, but there was no way in hell that I was losing to a pony. I didn't mean any of it either.

"Don't talk about her like that," he retaliated.

"Why not? What are you gonna do you damn coward? It's no wonder Celestia put me in charge of training the guards. You're scared ass wouldn't be able to look one in the eye!"

"Shut up!"

I stopped hitting his shield for a moment.

"Make me you little wannabe guard."

"RRRAAGH!"

As Shining yelled, his shield exploded into a massive dome of fire, and I was caught in the middle of it. I slid on my back slightly before regaining my stance. I could notice Shining's rage-filled face a little ways away, but I was concerned with putting out the fire on my skin.

For some reason, it wasn't hurting me. Don't get me wrong, I felt the heat, but it felt right. It wasn't a burning sensation but a feeling of warmth. Like the kind you get when you sit by the fireplace in winter. I slowly lowered my arms to look at them. I noticed that the fire wouldn't go away when I tried to put it out. It just stayed there burning on my arm.

'When will this shit go away,' I thought to myself. As I said that in my head, the fire vanished. I looked to Shining Armor to see his face was even more shocked than mine. I didn't know what the hell happened, but something was going on. I decided to see if the same would happen if I thought about the fire appearing on my arms.

And sure enough, it worked. Both of my arms were cloaked in fire. I didn't know why I could do that until it hit me. That beast that had climbed down my throat during my little illusion stunt earlier today had done this. It wasn't fake after all. He had fire on his shoulders. I think I even saw some electricity flowing off of him at random points too. If I could get Shining to strike me with electricity then I could see if my theory was true.

Someone suggested just what I wanted by yelling "Paralyze him!" Sure enough, Shining had launched an electric ball at me, and the same thing happened when it hit. I thought the static away, and it vanished. I thought it on my arms, and it was there. I wanted to thank whatever had crawled down my throat for the powers, but now was not the time. I needed to finish this quickly. I was getting tired of this fight, truth be told.

I looked at my arms and hands until I noticed my jacket. The elemental cuffs around my wrists. What a coincidence. I cloaked my left arm in static and my right arm into fire while charging at Shining Armor. I started slinging fireballs and static bolts at him. He managed to dodge some of them before being struck with a static bolt. It paralyzed him. I slowed down to a walk and stood right in front of Shining Armor. He had small strings of miniature lightning branching off at random places. I, for some reason, didn't take notice of the spell he was charging up.

"Looks like I win Shi-," I was cut off by a blast straight to my face. I had instantly started to feel tired. He casted a sleep spell on me, damn it! How could I have let him do that?! I needed to learn not to underestimate my enemies from now on. Not wanting to lose this fight yet, I walked up to the still-paralyzed Shining Armor. I gave him a punch square to the middle of the face with my right hand which knocked him out and gave him tiny burn marks on his face.

I raised my hand up in victory and dismissed my powers.

"I'm going to take a nap now," I said before I passed out.

**POV: 3****rd**** person**

Celestia couldn't believe what just happened. Not only did Kyle and Shining Armor fight, but Kyle had gained powers! It was a mystery to her how it happened, but he had never said anything about them before, and Kyle himself looked surprised. She would figure that out later. Right now Kyle and Shining Armor needed to be taken to the hospital.

"Guards," she called. "Take these two to the medical wing of the castle immediately! They need urgent care!"

The guards all jumped into the ring to help the two combatants and follow the princess's order. While it only took 2 ponies to carry Shining Armor, it took 7 or 8 to carry Kyle. He truly was massive.

"I take it this was only a sparring match," Celestia inquired to the other three princesses.

"Indeed," her sister replied. "It was only a sparring match, but Kyle did something to Shining Armor to force him to escalate the battle. You saw the entire battle yourself, sister."

Celestia nodded at this. She would have to talk to both of the males about this.

"Celestia," Discord began. "I know that look of yours. You can't punish them for that. It was a sparring match! It was all in good fun!"

"While that may be true, it was no excuse to go as far as they did. There will be consequences for both of them."

"Oh you really are no fun, Celestia. I'm glad we're not together anymore. It was so booooring."

"I thought we agreed never to talk about that again, Discord."

"Oh, it seems I struck a nerve. So be it. I am going to go check on our patients. Anypony else want to come?"

All of the regal ponies left at that point to go check on their friends. Hopefully they would wake up soon.

**A/N: FINALLY DONE! Do you know what it's like to completely rewrite a 7,000 word/18 page chapter? It sucks! Anyways, how was it? Good? Bad? So-so? I thought it was a pretty god chapter myself, but I'm not you guys. Leave a review with any questions you have, or PM me and I can get to you quicker! Remember to send me a friend request on Xbox Live or Steam:HorseManofDeath. Have a good day everyone.**

**Edit: The 20 Death points go to Nick terakidan! Congratulations! And also, I'm having a lot of trouble in deciding who Death should be paired with so I'm having you guys help me out. I have a poll open right now so that you can vote. Have a good day everyone.**


	6. Chapter 6: Luna's Death Knell

**A/N: New chapter everyone! I just got Dead Space 3 and needless to say, I'm impressed. I haven't played any of the others, but I loved the game otherwise.**

**medchtsia: I didn't really like that game. The plot was amazing, but the gameplay was...eh... However I know why you posted that review**

**ZaraLink: Thank you. I was afraid that some people might not know who Disturbed was, but I was too lazy to do anything. **

**MorningGale: I will definitely try to, man. It's hard enough being as busy as I am. I will try to though. I promise.**

**Guardian55: Thank you for the line separation guide. I never figured that out in the few years that I've been reading on this site. That really helped me. I thought chapter 5 was slightly rushed, but I really wanted to get that chapter out soon. I will give a Cadance and Death a little one-on-one time in this chapter. I had to give you a shout out, however. You deserved it. And I can't wait for chapter 9 of your story!**

**godzillafan1: I've been trying to make Celestia a dislikeable character from the semi-start. I'm glad that she's being looked at like that. I also hope that she's not too out of character. I think she is, but I'm not other people so… Thank you for the review, however.**

**Lorrak: Well, here is the next chapter! I'm glad you enjoyed the last one.**

**Without further ado, chapter 6 will now start!**

**Chapter 6: Luna's Death Knell**

**POV: 3****rd**** person**

The waiting room was extremely crowded at this point. Not only were there the original ponies who had previously been there, the royal pony sisters, Discord, Princess Cadance, and Princess Twilight Sparkle had all arrived as well. They came in a few minutes behind a group of royal guards carrying Captain Shining Armor and the new castle member, Kyle Drake.

The Elements of Harmony had arrived as well. They entered the waiting room a few minutes after the regal group of ponies had. They entered and immediately started asking questions such as "what happened?" or "who's in the hospital?"

Princess Twilight Sparkle had explained everything to her friends. All the way from leaving lunch to the two males knocking each other out. Needless to say, the Elements of Harmony were shocked at two facts here. One: Both of the fighters ended up in the hospital. They would have thought that, at least, one of the males would have been standing after the fight. Two: Kyle had managed to defeat Shining Armor, the captain of the Royal Guard. The _captain_. He was the best fighter that Equestria had, besides the princesses.

The elements had never seen Kyle fight, but from what they heard, he was ruthless. He killed another human who, at the time, was begging for his life. They heard that Kyle had made it seem like the human would be spared, but killed him as soon as he got comfortable. The fact that he killed was enough to instill fear into them. All except Rainbow Dash, but she would soon have the same reaction towards our favorite prototype.

"Why that little," Rainbow Dash started. "I'm gonna kick his flank for doing that! Nopony messes with my friends' brothers!"

"Rainbow Dash," Princess Celestia said. "Shining Armor is at fault as much as Kyle is. They both agreed to fight each other, and they will both receive the consequences."

"Sorry, Princess. I can't help but worry for Shining Armor. But what's that other thing's name? Kyle? You're going to punish him, right?"

"Both of them. Why do you want Kyle punished?"

"Because I don't trust him. There's something about him that is wrong. I just have a bad feeling about him."

"I understand that, Rainbow Dash, but aren't you assuming something a little too early? You have only talked to him once. Didn't you learn your lesson from Zecora?"

"Yeah I did, Princess, but I still don't like him."

"Just give him a chance please? He has been through a lot in the past few years, and it would be within everypony's best interests to keep him happy."

"Princess," Applejack interrupted. "What do you mean he's been through a lot?"

"I doubt he would like me to tell you all why, so I will let him tell you. He was angry enough at me, and still is, about me looking at his memories."

Applejack and the other elements all gave a curt nod in response. Soon, a pony wearing a nurse's cap came out of the door leading to the back.

"Princess Celestia," she called. "Shining Armor and his friend are fine. If you will follow me, I can show you to their room. The large group of ponies followed the nurse into the room that their two male friends were in. Just as they reached the door, the nurse spoke again.

"Princess Celestia?"

"Yes?"

"I need to inform you that while we managed to do a full checkup on Shining Amor and get him into a hospital gown, the other one couldn't be tampered with, however."

"What do you mean? Is he awake already?"

"No, I don't think so, but what I mean is that we couldn't check for any broken bones, cuts, and such. We couldn't get his clothes off of him. It's like his clothes are attached to his skin in some way, and when we tried to cut them off blood came out. The wound quickly regenerated on its own, however. It was enough to send a few of the doctors speechless."

"Thank you for trying anyways. Is this their room?"

"Yes, Princess. They are just inside."

"Thank you. Everypony, let us see on our friends."

The group of ponies and a draconequus all entered the room one-by-one. What they saw had shocked all of them except for Discord who was laughing his head off. Literally. What they saw was Kyle, but he looked no different than before. What was so odd right now was what he was doing.

Kyle had some odd, black, box-shaped item next to him. It seemed to produce something that sounded like music. Kyle had obviously taken a liking to it because he was playing an air guitar at the time. He didn't notice the ponies staring at him until he finished the long piece of music. When he finally did notice the ponies, Kyle simply stared at the group and vice versa. Before long, all of the ponies were rolling on the ground laughing at his antics. It was an odd sight to see Kyle acting so casually, despite him only being in Equestria for about a day now.

Kyle gave an animalistic growl in response.

**POV: Death**

I was, honestly, pissed off right now. The ponies had all caught me doing an air guitar solo to Metallica, and they were all currently laughing their asses off. Except for Discord, who had literally laughed his head off. It was weird to see a floating, laughing head, truth be told.

I didn't mind being laughed at, but Luna was the true one that was making me angry. She was laughing louder than all of the other ponies. Hell, she was almost louder than them all combined! Apparently she had never seen anyone play guitar before.

Soon, all of the ponies had calmed down and had gained their sanity again.

"All done," I asked.

"Yes," Luna began. "Yes I think we- HAHAHAHAHAHA!" It was another few minutes before she had calmed down for good. "Alright… whew… y-yes. We are done now. Hehehe."

"Damn, I didn't think you'd get such a kick out of me playing some guitar."

"It was merely refreshing to see someone such as you do something funny and out of character."

"I bet it was. Anyways, what are you guys doing here? Came to check up on us?"

"Yes," Celestia said. "That and to discuss your actions a few minutes ago during the battle."

"Oh, here we go again, Celestia."

"Indeed. Two times in less than a day. That's a new record."

"Ha-ha, very funny. So what is my punishment, your royal highness?" I love sarcasm when the moment calls for it.

"I have not come up with a suitable punishment as of yet. This incident happened mere minutes ago."

"True."

"Hold up," Luna said. "Kyle, have you looked in a mirror since this morning?"

"No, why?"

"I hate to say that I have only just noticed this, but your eyes have changed color."

"They're not blue?"

"Look for yourself," Luna said as she levitated a nearby handheld mirror. I grabbed it from her magical, blue aura, and gazed into it. Sure enough, my eyes had changed color to an almost golden yellow. I could already tell where I got the color from.

"Woah… There's another change. Again, the change is awesome!"

"Do you suppose it's from what happened in your little daydream earlier," Twilight asked.

"I'm almost positive. Unless Discord here got to me which I sincerely doubt."

"Could somepony explain why that's such a big deal? Y'all 'r leaving us in the dark here," Applejack intervened.

"Seriously! It's getting frustrating not knowing what's going on," Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Yes. I agree with those two. What is this 'daydream' that you two are talking about," Celestia inquired.

I set away to explaining exactly what happened this morning from after breakfast to the fight between Shining Armor and me (I AM USING THAT CORRECTLY). I could see in Celestia's face how uneasy she grew as the story went on. She was either worried for her kingdom, she knew something that I didn't, or both.

"You know what happened from then on," I left off as I got to the fight.

"This is not good," Celestia said. "In my past experiences with these forms of 'premonitions' they have often been right. If you have some sort of creature inside of you from merely a vision, then I am almost certain that troubled times are ahead. If that is the case, we must prepare Equestria for war as well as gain allies with the neighboring countries.

"Good luck."

"And who said that you're getting out of this?"

"It was worth a shot, I suppose."

"I have just come up with the perfect punishment for _you_, Kyle."

"Oh, shit…"

"I hereby decree that the human known as Kyle "Death" Drake shall be a royal guard from now onwards. He shall be a part of mine and Luna's own personal guard. Whichever princess he is guarding will be his top priority. He shall, if need be, give his life in exchange for one of ours. This is my command and to all who witness it, let them pass it on in truth, and to not alter it in the slightest."

I couldn't believe what I just heard. She had just made an official statement, an _official_ statement, out of thin air. I didn't think that someone could have that much power, much less a technicolored horse.

"You've got to be kidding me. You honestly believe that I'm going to follow your stupid-ass rule that you just suddenly decided to make up?"

"If you do not comply, you will have no allies to aid you in the upcoming events. You will have to fight all alone."

"That's perfectly fine by me. I welcome the dumbass that tries to come at me."

Celestia's eyes widened slightly. I was unsure whether or not she was surprised because I would say that or that I would be that stupid.

"That is a stupid thing to say, Kyle. You cannot possibly win what is to become of the future alone."

"Celestia, you know what I've done and what I can do. You've seen the shit I've seen. Do you honestly believe that some emo clown with the name of Dark can take a killing machine such as myself down?"

"Yes. I know from what you have told me that King Sombra will return, and he will try to take Equestria. He has been known to take down his enemies both physically and psychologically. I am afraid for what will happen to you if he uses the latter against you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I think you're unstable. I saw how you didn't cry when your parents…died. That much sadness and anger has been bottled inside of you for years now, and it has only grown in size. I fear for the day you break."

I simply chuckled in response and then started laughing. I was probably making myself look as insane as Discord.

"Umm…What's so funny," Discord asked quizzically.

"Yes, what is it," Celestia asked.

"You," I said as I started calming down. Once I had fully calmed myself, I spoke again. "You honestly believe that I will snap? Celestia, if I haven't broken yet, I never will. I should have gone on a psychotic rampage by now, but I haven't. I am fine, Celestia, and it's time you see that."

"Everyone breaks, Kyle. No matter what, they always break. I did years ago when _my _parents died."

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not everyone. I'm a walking virus who has powers made for killing. I will not break because I _can't_ break."

Celestia merely sighed in response.

"Fine, so be it. I have some duties to attend to right now, and I must come up with a punishment for Shining Armor. I bid you all farewell, for now." Celestia exited the room with Discord in tow. I think those two had something for each other.

"Same here. I have to go and replan my coronation because _somepony_ decided to crash it." Twilight said with a smirk.

"Sorry," I said. "I had to save everyone. Again."

"Girls, I'm going to need your help. Would you mind coming?" The elements all shook their heads, said their goodbyes, and left.

"I must get back to my royal duties. I am already late for one meeting," Luna said. "Fare thee well, Kyle. Have a good day."

I nodded in her direction as a response.

"I'm going to stick around for a while," Cadance said. "I want to be here when he wakes up." She said referring to Shining Armor

I shrugged and grabbed my phone again. I decided to finish the song that I had been interrupted from. As Cadance sat beside Shining Armor's bed, I resumed the song. It was "No Leaf Clover" by Metallica.

_Don't it feel right like this_

_All the pieces fall to his wish_

_Suck up for that quick reward, boy_

_Suck up for that quick reward they say-ay-ay-ay_

"Kyle," Cadance asked. I paused the song. "Do you play any music?"

"Yes I do, Princess."

"Which instruments?"

"My father taught me to play the guitar when I was younger alongside my mother teaching me to play the cello. After a few years of both, I taught myself how to play a drum kit."

"Wow. You're very talented."

"Thank you, but I haven't played in so long that I'm sure I'd be horrible."

"I'm sure you're not that bad."

"Dunno. I'd have to see."

"What is the song you're playing now?"

"It's called 'No Leaf Clover' by a band named Metallica. They are one of my all-time favorite bands. Maybe the greatest band of their style ever."

"What style of music?"

"Heavy Metal. My personal favorite of anything."

"Shining Armor listens to that genre occasionally. He mostly likes pop, though."

"Freaking bitch boy." Cadance gave a small laugh in response.

"Can you keep playing the song? I may like it."

"Sure thing."

_Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel_

_Was just a freight train comin' your way_

_Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel_

_Was just a freight train coming your way._

"A freight train," Cadance asked. "That sounds like a dark kind of theme. Is all of your species' music like that?"

"Not really. Metallica, however, isn't necessarily "dark themed". They just come up with real concepts," I replied.

"Like what?"

"Well, from what I can get from this song is that the "soothing light" is something good. The fact that it turns out to be a freight train means that something bad can come from something good. I would assume that's what it means, but, then again, I've never really been good with song meanings."

"Hmm…"

"Yeah. Meaningful lyrics."

"Kyle, can I ask you a question?"

"Depends on the question."

"What is your world like?"

"I'm not sure."

"What do you mean you're not sure?"

"I mean that I'm the wrong person to ask. I can't really give you an explanation of it."

"Can you, at least, try?"

"I suppose." I got ready to spew as much as I could about humans. "First off, the planet is called 'Earth' and it is run strictly by humans. Humans are the only sentient species on the planet. The world is run through strictly technological means. Technology helps humans do everything from small things like washing the dishes to massive things like building skyscrapers. The world itself is like a little playground for the world leaders."

"What do you mean playground?"

"The leaders of the countries all have their own little amount of land that they control. If they want more, they can treaty with other countries for it or they can try to invade it, and wage a war."

"Humans wage war for land? That seems childish if you ask me."

"Seriously. I stopped giving a shit about all the politics and stuff. It just hurts my head the more I think about it."

"Do all humans like war?"

"No. Not by a long shot. Some would sooner bitch, moan, and complain about it rather than actually do something. And don't even get me started on the rest of them."

"What about the rest of them?"

"You seriously want me to tell you?"

"If it isn't too much trouble."

FOURTH WALL BREAKING INCOMING

"Fine. The biggest thing that pisses me off about the war-hating humans is the ones that wish that they weren't apart of the human race. You hear me fanfiction?! Quit bitching about how horrible the human race is and how ashamed you are to be a human! No one wants to read a story where the main character is a pessimistic little cunt who complains about being who they are!"

(**A/N: I swear if I read another story with the main character being like that, I am going to flip my shit and I will bring the apocalypse now instead of later.)**

Cadance gave me the most puzzled look I'd ever received. I was unsure of what she was thinking and she was probably unsure of what I was thinking.

"Who's fanfiction?"

"Don't worry about it. I said what I wanted to."

"Well… Are you ashamed to be a human?"

"Hell no! I wouldn't be able to do half of the shit I could if I wasn't human."

"That's good. At least you accept yourself for who you are."

"Oh, I do. Trust me. Those people on that website, however, need a reality check."

"What's a website?"

"My bad. I forgot you don't have what humans have. Forget I said anything."

"I will. Trust me."

* * *

Cadance and I spent the next few hours shooting the shit, as I liked to call it. We simply talked and enjoyed each other's company. Shining Armor still hadn't woken up yet, so I must have knocked him out pretty damn badly. That, or he over-exerted himself during our battle. Possibly a mix of both.

Soon it was starting to get late and Cadance had to leave. She gave a loud yawn before speaking.

"Well, it seems like my thick-skulled husband isn't waking up today. I'm going to head back to my room and get some shuteye. Have a good night, Death," Cadance said.

"You too. Sleep well," I replied.

"Oh, and Death?"

"Sup?"

"You wanted to know how I like being rutted in bed?"

"Umm… Well, not really. I only said that to ma-," I started. Cadance had interrupted me.

"I, actually, enjoy being rutted like an animal. Dirty and rough is my style."

I gave no response and simply stared at her wide-eyed. I couldn't believe that she had just told me that. We had just barely became friends and she said something that you only tell best friends.

Cadance gave a small giggle before the giggle became a full-on laugh.

"I enjoyed today," she said in between breaths. "It was nice getting to know you a little better."

"As did I," I told her.

"Sleep well, Death."

"You too."

With that, Cadance walked out the room door and closed it behind her. I was officially alone, and I had nothing to do except look out the window at the recently formed night sky. I couldn't explain it, but, to me, the night sky here in Equestria seemed to be more… alive. There wasn't any more activity than Earth's night sky, but the stars had seemed more vibrant.

Oh, Jesus Christ, listen to me. I sound like hippy now.

I decided that I needed something to preoccupy my mind with. I settled with juggling my throwing knives to pass the time, but when I reached to grab them, they weren't in their sheathe. I quickly tried thinking back to where I may have misplaced them. It hit me when I thought back to breakfast. I remembered back to when I, in a state of panic, threw all three of them at the pink pony from earlier. Pinkie Pie was it? I got shivers just thinking about the insane amount of one color crammed into such a little space. It made me want to vomit. Of course, that's coming from a man whose favorite color is black.

I quickly got up out of the bed and walked over to the door. As I reached for the door handle, I looked back to Shining Armor.

'I should probably stay in case he wakes up. He may be confused from what happened,' I thought.

I mulled it over before making my decision.

'Nah. He deserves it. Serves him right for hitting me with that stupid bubble shield.'

I turned the door handle slowly and quietly before poking my head out into the hallway. I looked around before deeming it clear to continue. I opened the door fully, walked out, and silently closed it.

I didn't want to be caught at this time. I really didn't want to have to deal with the bitching from the doctors that I couldn't be released until tomorrow, so I decided to take it slow. Us prototypes were good at making noise, but we were also good at no noise. We could be stealthy when we wanted to.

I set off on my epic quest to find my throwing knives.

* * *

Dear

Christ

Almighty

Have you ever tried walking around a castle with absolutely no knowledge of it whatsoever? It's pretty damn difficult. I was seriously starting to get pissed off and was about to armor up and ram straight through the walls of the castle until I got to my destination. Fortunatley, however, I had come across the doors to the dining room that I remembered from this morning.

I opened the doors to find all of the lights turned out. I guess there wasn't anyone here who enjoyed a midnight snack. I decided to try and use my newly found powers and light up the room.

I started off with a little speck of flame in my hand that slowly grew bigger and bigger. Soon it had taken the whole of my palm and was creating a light brighter than that of a torch.

'Damn,' I thought. 'that is one bright-ass light.'

It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to sudden intake of light. Soon, however, I had gotten comfortable with the lighting. I held my hand out and saw the dining table. I walked to the side that I had been that morning, and took a guess at the seat I was at. I found the seat I had sat in and looked towards the same wall that I had been facing that morning.

I chucked the fireball over towards where the wall met the ceiling, and sure enough, my knives were still there in both the ceiling and wall. I walked over to the wall, latched onto it, and started climginbg. Once I retrieved my knives, I dropped down to the floor and absorbed the fireball back into myself.

'I hope no one heard that,' I thought to myself.

With my mission accomplished I decided to head back to the hospital room. I silently closed the dining room doors and attempted to find my way back to my hospital room.

* * *

I was utterly lost. I had ultimately deemed that I hated castles. I was sick of trying to navigate my way through this massive labyrinth of Canterlot.

'At least,' I started thinking. 'I get something else to bitch at Celestia for. More complaints means more misery which means more fun. For me, of course. Possibly Discord too, but I didn't know.

I had, believe it or not, come across my room even. I walked inside to find that my bed had been made. It was probably one of the servants of the castle. That's what they were paid for, anyway.

I wanted to relieve some of the weight on my person, so I took off my knife belt and set it on the dresser opposite to the bed. I probably wouldn't need it for a while anyways. These ponies seemed peaceful enough.

I took off my mask, hoodie, and jacket and set them on the bed. I sat beside them and ran my hands through my short, brown hair. I sat there for a few minutes and thought about me being here in Equestria. I had made a few really good friends in the short time I had been here, but I didn't know what I was leaving behind back on Earth.

A hell hole is what I was leaving. I would gladly take this place over NYZ any day. But, that was up to Celestia and Luna. I had come unannounced into _their_ country and murdered someone. I could tell that the two mares had some power behind them. I didn't mean political either. They seemed to generate this aura around them. It was mysterious. I couldn't place the feeling that I got around them, but I had never felt anything like it before.

Anyways, me staying here depended solely on those two mares. If I found a way home, that would be their decision if I could stay with them or not. I had to give it to Celestia, however. She could have had me beheaded on a whim for what I did, but she's treated me with benevolence. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how wrong I had been towards her. Then, I remembered how she looked into my memories. I specifically told her not to, yet she did anyways. However, she did have the right intentions. She simply wanted to know if her subjects were in the way of any harm.

As much as I hated to admit it, I owed Celestia an apology. A massive one. I had been a complete and total ass to her, and she has been nothing but kind. I would confront her tomorrow.

I decided it was time for me to head back to my hospital room. I threw on my hoodie, jacket, and mask and stepped outside of my room. I quickly threw my hood on while closing the door with my foot. I started my journey back towards my hospital room before I heard something that sounded like…crying?

I looked around to try to find the source of the sound before my eyes settled on Princess Luna's room door. I silently made my way over to it. As I grew closer I could tell that that was, in fact, where the crying was coming from. I wanted to try to see if it was Luna herself, but there was no peephole on the door. Instead, I tried looking through the key locking mechanism on the door. I was surprised when I could see into her room.

It would have been creepy to see a giant-sized human looking through a princess's door, but I desperately wanted to know what was going on. That was until I found a sight that paled my face in an instant.

The room was almost pitch black, save for the light of the full moon shining in through the glass doors leading onto the room balcony. The moonlight perfectly illuminated the crying figure that I recognized.

I saw Luna on her bed with her face stained with what looked like tears. She must have been crying nonstop for the past hour or so. I could see a shattered mirror on the ground and concealed by the bed, as it was on the opposite side. I saw Luna's horn glow with a blue aura. I wondered what kind of spell she was casting before I saw a glass shard from the mirror levitate up beside her. I knew what she planned to do with it, and I wouldn't let her attempt it.

I took a step back, lifted my leg in front of me, and kicked the door clean off of its hinges. It sailed past the bed and into the doors leading onto the balcony. I walked into Luna's room slowly and very furiously, might I add. Speaking of which, the same mare whom I had just interrupted gave me a look like I was the devil himself. Her eyes were wider than dinner plates and her mouth was molded into an expression of true horror.

"Luna," I growled as I slowly walked over to her.

"K-k-k-ky-l-l-e," Luna stammered in astonishment.

The closer I got to her the more she scooted away. I was instilling pure horror into her, and I was damn glad. If there is one thing I hate, it's seeing someone take their life for granted.

Luna soon fell off the bed and continued scooting to the wall on her back. She had soon hit the wall, and was now hyperventilating. I walked until I towered over her form completely like a mountain overlooking a village. Luna hid her face away in her arms and tried to shrink as much as possible.

"Please," She begged. "Please don't hurt me. I beg of you, don't hurt me."

I wasn't planning to lay a finger on her, but I would make sure she knows what she was about to do.

I slowly put my arms around her and lifted her up.

"Huh," Luna asked astonished. I walked over to her bed and slowly set her down onto it, the mirror under my feet cracking from stepping on it. "Kyle…what is going on?"

"Luna," I began. "you know damn good and well what's going on. I want to know what the ever-living F**K YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING!"

Luna flinched at both my yelling, and my language.

"I…I don't…"

"What?! You don't what?!"

"I don't know!"

Luna was on the verge of crying again.

"Why would you ever think of doing that kind of shit, Luna? What were you thinking?"

"You don't understand, Kyle. You don't understand what is wrong."

"You're damn right I don't, but I can sure as hell try if you tell me."

"It's no use. You would treat me the same as everypony else here."

"Oh, for Christ's sake, Luna! Quit being stubborn and tell me!"

"We were mocked again tonight during our night court! Nopony treats us the same as our sister, and we are sick of it! We were going to give everypony what they wanted by taking our life! We have had enough of living in our sister's shadow!"

"Okay… That's easier to deal with and assess. Now explain to me what happened."

Luna told me about what had happened earlier during her "Night Court". Turns out some pompous douchebag had made some absolutely witty comment that Celestia was the true Princess of Equestria. Luna had finished off the night and came straight back here. In order to make more sense of the situation, I had her explain further.

She told me about her entire Nightmare Moon saga. Turns out, she had lived in Celestia's shadow for a long time. When Celestia finally realized what was going on, it was too late. Luna had already been consumed by her jealousy and hatred. And just what brilliant idea did Celestia have? Send her sister to the moon for 1,000 years. You know, the normal punishment for wanting a little more attention.

Luna had it rough. She told me about all of the shit she had to take when she returned from the moon. I couldn't help but feel sympathy for her. She told me her past even when it hurt her to.

"I am*sniff*simply tired of living in my sister's shadow," Luna said.

"I understand, Luna, but taking your life is no way to deal with problems. I should know."

"What do you mean? You've tried?"

"Was that supposed to be a question?"

"Umm…?"

"Yes, I have. More times than I can remember."

"Why? You seem to hate suicide. Why attempt it?"

"You don't honestly believe that I didn't think about my parents' deaths? There wasn't, hell, still isn't, a day that goes by that I don't think about them."

"How have you coped?"

"For the first few months I tried what you were about to do. I would try to end my life myself. Want to know why it didn't work?"

"I suppose…"

I picked up one of the glass shards from the mirror that lay on the side of the bed. I had been sitting on the side and Luna had been lieing on her stomach near the edge as well. Anyways, as I picked up the shard, I removed my mask from my head as well as throw my hood back. I brought the shard up to my throat, pushed into my neck, and slid across until I had reached around my ear. The wound sealed up in a matter of seconds which I found odd. It should have taken longer to heal.

As the wound sealed up, I looked at Luna, and she gave me a horrified face.

"That's why. The people who killed my parents turned me into a viral weapon. I can't be killed because I am a walking virus."

"That…that's horrible. How have you not broken down yet?"

"You know, I ask myself that same question. I don't really have an answer for it. I assume it's just plain luck. But Luna, let me tell you something."

"Suicide or self-inflicted pain is never the answer. Trust me. I know. The only advice I can give to you is to not give a shit about what all those other ponies think. You are one of the two Princesses of Equestria. You have as much authority as Celestia, okay? I learned to let the comments about myself from other people simply fly by me like a paper in the wind. You need to learn how brush those stupid damn comments off. The only thing that should matter to you is your own opinion. Take your position as Princess of Equestria seriously, Luna."

"Kyle…I simply cannot thank you enough for helping me. I really do appreciate it." Luna gave a gentle smile as tears of joy formed in her eyes. "Thank thou so much." Luna quickly reached out and pulled me into a hug. I wasn't the very touchy-feely kind of guy, but right now was different. Don't get it through your head that we were going steady or anything.

"I'm always available to talk to, Luna," I said. "I may not seem like it at first, but I am a good listener."

"We feel that both of us will have to do this more often. It felt good to get our feelings out."

"It always does. Don't start thinking that we're dating or anything."

Luna gave a slight chuckle at this comment.

"Of course not, Kyle."

"Good. Anyways, I'm gonna head back to my room. It's late and I like my sleep."

"We understand. Have a wonderful sleep, Kyle. We will see thou tomorrow morning."

"Yes you will. Goodnight, Luna."

"Goodnight."

With that, I headed for my own room. I didn't bother going all the way back to the medical wing of the castle. I was beyond tired and didn't have it in me. I simply opened my room door, closed it, stripped down to my undergarments and jumped into bed. I fell asleep almost instantly.

**POV: Luna**

We…er…I could not believe what just happened. Kyle had taken his time to sit down and have a talk with me. Finally, somepony who wouldn't just brush me off like a speck of dust. While I did have Twilight Sparkle and Celestia among other friends to talk to, it was simply never enough. There wasn't anypony else whom I could speak to, and I ashamedly had enough of it tonight when that pony during my night court made the comment of Celestia being the "ultimate ruler of Equestria".

I had sat through the rest of the night court addressing problems, though it felt more like I was surviving it. When it ended, I walked slowly back to my room while contemplating what that pony said.

If he thought that way, then what did that say about the rest of Equestria? Did they think the same too? Once I had reached my room, I silently opened the door, closed it, and got onto my bed. I broke down right there. I cried for mother knows how long. I had enough. The ponies of Equestria simply never appreciated me for who I was. It happened before I became that dreaded demon of nightmares, and it was still happening now.

If these ponies didn't want me, then I would give them what they wanted.

Through the haze of my tears I spotted the mirror on the dresser next to my bed. I used my magic to grab it and set it down next to the bed on the floor. I used a weight spell to focus on the center of it. I forced more weight onto the mirror until it shattered. I hesitated for a second before continuing. I slowly brought up one of the glass shards to my head level as I prepared myself for what I was to do next. That was until Death himself blew my room door off its hinges.

I was utterly shocked by what just happened. So shocked in fact, that my magical grip on the shard had been lost. It fell to the ground.

"Luna," Kyle growled. I couldn't tell if this was the Death that I knew or the reaper himself. The latter seemed like paradise at the moment. All I could see or feel was Kyle's newly-gained yellow eyes as they pierced through my gaze. I could feel those eyes staring straight into my soul, and it instilled me with fear. I didn't know what became of my human friend, but whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"K-k-k-ky-l-l-e," I stammered. I was both shocked and terrified. I didn't know what was going to happen to me. I couldn't concentrate with his glowing eyes staring into my very being. No concentration means no magic, and that was a very bad thing indeed.

Soon, Kyle started making his way over towards me very slowly. Each of his footsteps unconsciously forced me to scoot backwards. All I could hear was the echo of my impending doom.

I had eventually fell off of the bed, though that didn't prevent me from continuing backwards. I didn't notice that I had come into contact with the wall until Kyle stood over me like a giant. I just wanted to shrink and hide. I was terrified. I quickly raised my hooves over my head and began to beg for my life.

"Please," I begged. "Please don't hurt me. I beg of you, don't hurt me."

To my complete and utter shock, Kyle leaned down, wrapped his arms around me, and lifted me up from my cowering position.

"Kyle, what is going on," I said.

"Luna," he began. "You know damn good and well what's going on. I want to know what the ever-living F**K YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING!"

And so, our long conversation began. I explained to him why I was about to take my life, and he consoled me. I told him of my past, and what happened with Nightmare Moon. Kyle had not fixed his gaze off of me. He had not ridiculed me. He had not been frightened of me. He had been kind to me. He gave me advice that nopony has before. I was astonished that this massive human could give me such useful advice.

Our meaningful talk came to a conclusion when he left for his room to go to sleep. I had enjoyed his time and suggested that we do this again. He agreed but with the comment of "Don't think that we're dating or anything." I couldn't help but give a chuckle at this.

But why did I? Was I just humoring him? Of course I was, although, it didn't feel like it. I felt like I had a tremendous knot in my stomach. Like despair had just washed over me. I couldn't figure out the reason why or how it happened, so I simply let it be.

As Kyle left, I thought about him. Why did he want his past so hidden? Was it really that painful for him to discuss, much less think about? I had my doubts, but I rrespected his wishes. I wouldn't pry any more than I had to. He was nice to me, and I to him.

Soon, my eyelids became heavy. I set my head down upon my pillow and quickly was embraced by sleep.

**A/N: Another long chapter guys. Think of it as payment for me taking such a long break. I hope it was satisfying to you readers. School, for me, starts next Friday on the 9****th****, HOWEVER I will be able to get a chapter out every week, I'd say. I don't have it in me lately because it's hot as hell here in New Orleans and when I come home, I'm ready to relax. I'm only 15 guys… Stay with me. I really do appreciate you guys' and maybe even gals' support. It keeps me going on this.**

**How was it? Good? Bad? So-so? I thought it was so-so. Not really my best chapter, but you guys needed something for my absence. PM me with any questions you guys have or leave it in the reviews. Please review and I'll see you all during the next chapter! **


	7. Chapter 7: Friend or Foe

**A/N: How's it going, mortals? I know I said I would update weekly, but school has been catching up to me as well as pretty heavy personal matters. I'm not going to concern you guys with it, but please bear with me. I'm trying my best here. School is a more important priority to me than this story.**

**WE HAVE A NEW BETA READER, MORTALS! Guardian55 has decided to grace this story with his knowledge so I want you all to give him your support on both his story and this one!**

**Lorrak: I thank you for saying that last chapter was good, but I'm sorry this couldn't have come out sooner. I hate life.**

**godzillafan1: I, honestly, like Celestia the best out of all ponies. I don't know what it is about her that draws my attention, truth be told.**

**Lord Guffington: Oh, there is no offense at all, my friend. I thought that last chapter was bad. I can't stop people from thinking what they want. Thank you for the review!**

**Guardian55: I can't give that much of a response since I want to try and cut down on these intros, but I'll try my best. 1) I always had imagined Cadance as a Mary-Sue character so I'd decided that I would change that. And so, I gave her the bad girl style. 2) As I said, I'm not very good with the content or psychological parts of chapters, but I'll eventually improve. 3) I remember when HiE's first started popping up, and what they were like. Human falls from sky, gets superpowers, bithces about being human, turns into pony, date Rainbow Dash. 4) That is the reason why I want to see your OC. I can't wait to see the differences between him and Kyle. It's going to be awesome! 5) I don't mind when someone rambles. I like seeing what people think. Make your review as long as you would like it to be.**

**Wolfsalvo: I can't express my gratitude enough towards that review. I will try and try again to please both you and all f my other readers to the fullest extent.**

**Let's get to it!**

**Chapter 7: Friend or Foe**

**POV: Death**

Suddenly, whoa, I didn't know where I was. The last thing I remembered was falling asleep on my bed. As I went to sleep, though, I hadn't planned on going to the endless black void I now found myself within. If I had wanted this, if I had wanted to be stuck in vast darkness, I would have…well…I… I don't know what I would have done! The point was that all I knew, as of now, was that I was stuck in a black void with no light whatsoever. In there, I was suspended in the air, fully clothed I might add, with no means, ugh, escape.

Empty, quiet, annoying. It was like that for a few minutes before, with a defiant air, I decided to speak to no one in particular rather than just float along in pointless silence.

"Hello?" I boldly called, "Is anyone here? Or out there? Or whatever?"

Apart for the echo of my own voice, there was no reply to my voiced inquiry. In turn, I looked all around me for _some_ sign of life. Unfortunately if not a bit maddeningly, I found nothing.

Indeed, for however long, it seemed I was fated to be stuck here in this endless space. To make things better or worse or whatever, it seemed I was stuck in the middle of nowhere with no one to communicate with except, heh, myself. And we all knew what a ray of sunshine I was, right? Of course, I usually wasn't very hyperactive. Nevertheless, when I was in situations like this – especially when floating in what looked to be the void itself – I could hardly control myself.

Bah, I needed something to do. C'mon shadows! Give me something to do!

"Ugh… When do I get out of here?" I patiently thought to myself, gradually if not funnily turning upside down through the shadows as I did so.

As soon as I had inwardly said that, a blinding white light appeared and quickly consumed me within it. The odd process of being blinded took a few moments but, eventually, I felt my feet unexpectedly touch down onto a solid surface where my sturdy boots clicked upon landing. Mind, even though not floating but standing now, I was still blind. And without my eyes, I was a bit out of my element. Thus, being cautious about what was happening to me, I waited where I was for something, anything, to occur to tell me if I was in danger or not.

When the white light in my eyes finally faded, as the experienced prototype weapon I was, I instantly as well as skillfully took in the scenery around me. Mind, after having been pulled from the darkness by some kind of light, I didn't really know what I was looking for. Still, danger knew no mercy and I couldn't let my guard down for even a second.

In the end, when I had finished looking around while assessing what kind of situation I had been brought into, it surprisingly looked like I was in the throne room of the Canterlot castle. Keep in mind, I still kept up my guard because, more surprisingly, this throne room had more of an evil décor than that of the one I had come to be a bit familiar with since arriving.

The carpet that covered the shiniest regal black marble floor which I stood upon was a most ominous blood red speaking of how black the floor seemed to be, the walls pus ceiling around me were made of the same material as well. As for the occasional stained glass windows that were huge in size, they all had a gothic styled architecture along with a set of bars on the outside that were, well,meant to prevent…_anything_ from escaping. Then, there were the massive chandeliers of white along with black crystal hanging down from above that all gave off the same eerie, bright red light.

"What in the… Where the hell am I?" I seriously thought.

Truly, I had never seen this place – this most eerily crimson/onyx styled place – before in my life. Before anything else, I wanted to know right now what the hell was going on and how I got here. Abruptly, even though my senses were at their peak, I heard a pair of doors behind me slam open before I could predict it coming! Making up for my lack of paying attention, prepping myself for a battle maybe, I quickly turned around to see who or what was coming my way.

Instead of enemies charging me from the slammed doors, I was met with the sight of all the ponies I had previously spent time with since arriving in Equestria. There was Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadance, etc… alongside Twilight and all of her friends that made up the Elements of Harmony. Yet,amongst them all, I immediately noticed someone or somepony different.

Before me, there was a tall, unfamiliar mare. A mare who was as tall as Celestia but was not at all as white. No, this stranger in question was black. Too black, to be honest. Unnervingly, both her mane and Luna's shared a striking resemblance. However, instead of Luna's smoothly flowing mane, the strange mare's own looked to be made of a mist that warped, twisted, grappled with itself… as if it were alive. Then, to complete her growingly eerie appearance, she wore blue armor on her head as well.

"Guys," I started. "where the hell are we? What is this place?"

All of the ponies adopted pale faces as they looked at me.

"Kyle…" Luna said.

"Luna." I acknowledged back to her, wanting answers, "What's going on?"

"No. No no no no. Kyle!"

As she finished her rapid set of words, Luna began trotting towards me. However, it seemed like she wasn'tstaring at me. No, as if there was someone behind me, the princess of the night's attention was focused upon things past me.

As Luna began moving towards me, so did the rest of the ponies in turn. They were obviously concerned for me. Yet, argh, I couldn't get over the feeling that they weren't looking at me! They were look at something else! What? What was so interesting apart for me?

"Hey! Are y'all alright?" I exclaimed, feeling a bit shaken by everything despite my usually firmly set attitude. (There is no southern drawl when Kyle says this)

None of the ponies coming towards me responded. In fact, they sped up instead. Soon enough, ahead of every other pony, the princess of the night reached me. At the same time, though, something unexpected happened.

Luna didn't run into me like I'd expected. Like I wasn't even there, she ran _through_ me as did all of the other ponies when they reached me.

"Wait, what in the hell?"

Instinctively, I turned around to see what the ponies were running to. I mean, why wouldn't I have? Yet, when I did, I couldn't see due to my fellows crowding around it. All I could see was that the thing of interest was just before the throne and, ugh, there were chains extending from the mystery object to the walls.

Quickly, I jogged up to join everypony to see what it was that they were looking at. When amongst the ponies, seeing what they were seeing, I automatically wished that I hadn't. You see, what we were all looking upon, it was the most… most horrendous thing I had ever seen. And to make it much more horrendous, what I – everyone – was staring at was freaking me! Myself!

As if I'd come straight out of a torture movie, heavily chained before the throne, the copy of myself in question lacked a top to cover what was my bloody and gashed torso! My enchained self at least had jeans to cover himself where it mattered. Nevertheless, the garments were charred black and looked like they would blow away if you so much as breathed on them wrong. As for my copy having shoes, he had none.

The next part I witnessed was what was most unsettling for me. The chains I had spoken about came from my very forearms. How you may ask? By savage hooks. Where were the hooks? Through my Radius as well as Ulna bones. Or, in simpler words, my abused forearms.

The Radius and Ulna bones are what make up your – every human being's – forearm. They're shaped so that there is a slight hole in the as for the hooks attached to chains, they grizzly hooked through the holesin my copy's bones and visibly came out the other side of his arms. There was no escape from such a chain prison either. For there seemed to be a piece of metal welded to the open side of the protruding hooks. Basically, my second self was suspended by circles going through my forearms.

"Kyle?" Luna said. She was beginning to cry. Heavily too. I understand that I had recently prevented her from suicide but she was crying too hard for that. No, her sobs were due to something else other than suicide.

"Kyle, please wake up."

"Hm… Hngh…" my body groaned out in a soft if not pained whisper. Apparently, as I looked on the gruesome scene with my mind in something of a blank trance, it appeared that my second, suspended self wasn't dead.

"Oh, by the spirits above. Thank you." The princess of the night gasped out, trying to keep herself in control,"Kyle… Kyle, we are here to rescue you."

"Luna…"

"Yes?"

"Run…"

"No! We are not leaving you here for Sombra to use you as a play toy."

Luna picked my head to look into my eyes, but she was disappointed. The ponies all went pale, yet again, when they looked. You see, the problem with my eyes was that _I. Had. No. Eyes. _In place of my eyes were black voids of nothing with blood just under looked as if the blackness of the holes were crying blood.

"K-K-Kyle," Celestia asked astonished.

"Celestia," my doppelganger replied. "you need to get everyone out of here."

"Don't be ridiculous. We've come too far to leave here empty hoofed, Kyle. One way or the other, you will be coming with us."

"No good. It's pointless. It's a trap."

"Nonsense, Kyle. We will free you and get you help no matter what."

"You don't understand. Why?" My doppelganger growled, even beginning to shift his already painful position back from those trying to help him,"He wants you here. You're right in position, now."

I couldn't take this anymore. I turned around to exit the throne room as well as obvious nightmare, to return to my bed, but froze when I was met with the sight of a grimly sneering grey stallion. And as for this grey stallion, he had the same armor that that mysterious pony from my earlier vision before training Shining Armor's troops had had.

I could only guess that this newcomer was the fabled King Sombra and,by God, did he look like a clown. As if some person desperately wanted to make their avatar in a video game look cool.

Actually, when I had called this guy a clown in front of Celestia, I must have been speaking kindly because this guy looked like a straight up _douchebag_.

"As a matter of fact," Sombra began, his voice – even though a doucher – much like the crackling a building thunderstorm, "I don't think that any of you are leaving. You see, just as my newest friend has said, I have you right where I want you." As he said this, Sombra determinedly started charging up a spell.

Before he let his growing spell go, though, he looked dead at me and spoke. His words were not directed to those with him in the throne room. No, he didn't speak to my enchained self but to clueless me and what he had to say… was what any other villain such as he would be comfortable revealing.

"Let this be a lesson to you, almighty Death. You will meet your own death when I come for you. All of what you see here," At this, from his shining horn, Sombra released a thunder of black sparks, crystal, destruction, that decimated everything while coming towards me, "will happen in due **TIME**!"

Just before it hit me, just before the dark unicorn king's destruction reached me, a white light blinded me again. And, from nowhere yet everywhere, I was leaving, departing, falling out of this crazy nightmare.

"**NO!"** I yelled as I sat up with a start. Sweating heavily, trying to get a hold of myself, I scanned my surroundings. With relief, I found that I was back in my room in Canterlot.

"Phew. Damn." I thought, "It was just a dream. That's all it was, Kyle. It was just a dream."

It took a few minutes for me to recover from the shock of my recent nightmare and dry the sweat from my body with a nearby cloth.

Needless to say yet needing to be said for my own sake, I was downright shocked. When I gained enough courage to do so, I recalled I had looked like hammered shit being chained up like that during the dream. My real unsettling question, however, was how did I become that?How had it come to that? For the longest time, I had though no one had had the ability to take me down and turn me into, well, a battered mess. _No one could do that to me_!

Who the hell had enough power to bring me to my knees like that? To chain me up, to make me be bait for something so twisted in nature?

That King Sombra guy – nah, that King Clown guy – he knew that I, as a phantom in a dream, was there in the throne room when the ponies that were my companions thought I wasn't. That unicorn king straight up taunted me in _my _sleep, in_ my _dream. He also seemed to think that he had some sort of power over me.

Well, when the moment came where the two of us were face-to-face, I wouldn't hesitate in gutting, ripping, destroying him like everything else that had claimed supposed superiority over me. Overconfidence. Heh, that tended to be the end of many a mortal let alone supposed god.

Before long, remaining confident in myself that I wouldn't become some chained bait for a shadow king no matter what, I fully recovered from my shock and threw off the blankets that covered me.

Now up and about, I walked over to where my jeans lied on the floor. I snagged them up, pulled my phone out, and checked the time. I couldn't believe it, but the clock read 4:52 A.M! Bah, I had hardly gotten any sleep whatsoever! Curse that King Sombra and his annoying whatever and the nightmare that had – ARGH! Why couldn't I get any decent sleep around here?!

If it wasn't obvious enough, I was immediately ticked off at the realization that I had awoken early. Again. Speaking of me having vision of the dark unicorn king, I didn't know what was going on with me. Nevertheless, it was crucial that I figured out what. And as for sleep, I was waking up entirely too early for my normal habits.

As I said, I liked my sleep. It's never good for the person that wakes me up because, as a prototype, I get an attitude like you would not believe.

Growling in annoyance, I tossed my phone onto the bed. Then, I quickly slipped on my pants along with my shirt. Next, I walked over to my boots that I had thrown when I stripped for bed. Heh, clearly, I had a natural habit of throwing my clothing everywhere when I took it off. Anyhow, I grabbed the boots along with the socks that were nearby.

Setting the boots down, slipping on the socks as well as the footwear after, I took hold of the knife that belonged to said boot last. With a flick, I placed the blade in its slot on the outside of my right foot. Stretching, I walked over to my grey hoodie where I rubbed my hand in the fur on the inside.

I had always liked this thing, this clothing that protected me from the elements of the unfavorable weather. It was extremely comfortable, despite being so heavy.

Steppingback from my signature jacket, I couldn't help but realize how coincidental my newly achieved powers were. What were the odds that I would get the powers that were on the cuffs of my jacket? I definitely wasn't complaining, mind you. I just thought myself extremely lucky that I had gained two of my personal favorite elements.

"I wonder," I pondered to myself. "what kind of fire element do I have? I'll have to see later on, won't I?"

I meant exactly what I said. There are, in case you didn't know, multiple types of pyrokinesis. Too many for me to put into a list, naturally, but some examples are holy fire, hell fire, dark fire, white fire, and many others. I, personally, was hoping that I would be able to get either dark fire or hell fire in due time since they had the most power.

I picked my jacket up next and inspected the back of it to check for any scratches that may have been gained recently. Luckily, I saw none. Deeming myself as satisfied, I threw it around my back and slipped the leather piece of clothing on.

Heh, I couldn't get over it. I just loved this jacket. I really did.

I strode over to my knife belt on the dresser. I was about to put it on before I decided against that choice. Being here, being a shape-shifter, I didn't think that I would need it. Besides, if I was going to be guarding the princesses I needed to look as disarmed as possible. It would leave the enemy with a sense of false security as well as make them more prone to show themselves. And then when that happened… Well, you got the picture.

"I should be fine without this piece." I thought, setting aside the dagger belt, "Let me grab my phone and I'll find something to do."

I stepped over to the bed once more, grabbed my phone, and put it into my pocket. Now, it was time to try and find something interesting for me to do until Celestia or Luna woke up. Before heading out though, I grabbed my mask that I had placed on the bedside table earlier. Soon enough, I had it strapped around my head.

Walking over to my room door, I opened it and shut it as I exited my quarters. From there, I decided to simply walk the halls of the castle as well as see where I would eventually end up.

* * *

I had eventually walked into yet another hallway. It seemed as if this place was a god damned labyrinth. It was impossible to find your way in this place! I was about to groan in boredom before I heard a quite loud, and might I add lustful, moan. It was male from the sound of it.

"Oh, yes," The voice yelled. "Keep on, baby! Keep on!"

"Oh, yeah," a female voice responded. "You like that?"

"Oh, sweet Celestia yes! I want more! Use the bottle, use the bottle!"

I heard the sound of a cork being pulled from a bottle before the same male voice screamed in pleasure. I could only guess where that thing was being put, and chances were that nobosy's "junk" is thin enough to fit inside the bottle.

Needless to say, I could only give a face that said "Holy demon shit" before I ran away. I needed away from this area.

* * *

Soundlessly, I had been walking for a few minutes throughout Canterlot Castle's halls. Truly, it felt nice to walk without a set goal or mission or anything in mind. Besides getting away from the area I had just recently been in. Ugh…disgusting. Despite the recent events, however, the silent walking gradually filled me with a relaxed feeling, as if I didn't have a care in the world. I could simply watch the world unfold before me. And, for once, I would let it.

Anyway, I digress.

Soon enough, I came across another large pair of double set doors. It seemed like this castle was designed to confuse you, show you where important rooms were in the form of massive double doors and show where minor rooms were with one door. Anyway, not willing to think too much about it, I pushed both of the heavy doors open as well as took in the resulting sight that opened up in front of me.

Where I entered into, there was a long hallway first that led to an open balcony with the starry night sky still above. The right half of the room was made of a midnight blue marble while the left side was made of alabaster marble. Both dark along with white pillars decorated the large hallway all the way down with their colors matching the sides of the differing room they were on.

In renewed interest, I gazed around the room for a bit before deciding to see what was on the visible balcony. I hadn't really noticed an open balcony back when Michael and I had fought. Yet, then again, I had only been outside of the castle structure twice since, shall we say, "crash landed" in the middle of Twilight Sparkle's big day in becoming royalty.

Pausing for a moment, I reached the balcony and it was just as I had described it. However, I came to realize that it towered above all the other buildings of it being so high up on the castle itself, that was more than likely the reason why I hadn't noticed this balcony during my bout with Michael. I didn't think nor had been given the chance to look up during then.

In thoughtful silence, I stood where I was and looked out onto the distant kingdom of Equestria. The kingdom that was so peaceful yet – like all things – had a dark side to it. Without the dark side, how else could Luna have become Nightmare Moon? These ponies really needed a reality check and I would be happy to be the one to give it to them.

It wasn't long before I heard the clicking of hooves hitting marble behind me. Turning around to see who exactly had walked into the room to join me, I found that it was none other than the white-colored alicorn of ponydom, Princess Celestia. And what perfect timing. I needed to apologize to her about my earlier behavior.

"Hello, Kyle," The princess of day began, "What are you doing here at this hour? You should be at the medical wing of the hospital."

"I know that, Celestia," I responded, "However, I got really bored of that medical wing after Princess Cadance left. I needed something to do."

"Ah. And did you manage to save yourself from such boredom?"

She had no idea what happened to Luna last night. I had to tell her.

"Yes. I was saved from such boredom." I answered, motioning for the sun princess to join my side to hear what needed to be said next, "In fact, if you would listen, I need to speak to you."

"Of course." Celestia said, trotting forward to stand with me like I had wished of her,"What is it? What do you wish to discuss with me?"

What did I wish to discuss with princess Celestia? Plenty of things. So, here we go. It was time to do something that Death had never had to do before… Forgive.

"It's about my behavior towards you." I began with Celestia keenly listening,the both of us looking outside occasionally to the expanse of land that was Equestria, "I've thought long and hard about my current situation and what I should do. Needless to say, I'm surprised neither you nor Luna have decided to try and behead me by now."

"Try to behead you?" The sun princess falsely gasped, trying to show complete shock at my words, "Kyle, why would we ever do such a thing? Why would you think that you deserve such a cold action against you?"

Heh, her grace was playing stupid just to milk the moment. I was seriously reconsidering taking this conversation back before I went any further, but I quickly decided against it. I needed to do this. It was now or never.

"Come on. Don't try to act stupid, Celestia. You know damn good and well what I mean." I insisted, crossing my arms in a business-like fashion,"You could have tried to have me killed by now. In a matter of days, I came into your country, killed someone, trespassed into royal chambers along with put the captain of your royal guard into a small coma."

"True. However, you are not the only one who should be apologizing."

"For what?"

"Are you trying to use the same thing on me?"

"Yeah, kind of." I added a smirk at the end whenever I said this. Celestia couldn't see it, but I knew that she knew that I did. As for Celestia, she gave a chuckle in response.

"Then let me elaborate. You didn't want me to look into your memories. I didn't trust you enough, so I did anyway. And, for that, I apologize. I should have respected your wishes."

"Thanks, Celestia." I admitted, feeling a bit better,"I appreciate that. I understand why you tried what you did though. I apologize as well."

"Thank you, Kyle." Celestia said, bowing her head to me while flicking her graceful wings a little,"Perhaps, now that this discussion has been done, may we start over as friends?"

"I see no problem with it." I agreed, nodding my own head towards the princess of the day.

That talk, that getting over our differences, had been surprisingly easy. I had expected Celestia to be an asshole about everything, but she hadn't been. She was actually rather easy to talk to.

"Celes-" I spoke. The reason why I hadn't called her by her title was because I didn't respect her before. As of now, I needed to get into the habit of calling her by her position. "I mean, Princess Celestia. There is something else that we need to talk about."

"Well, isn't that new? You called me Princess," Her highness responded with a smirk. In turn, I glared at her to have her get a little more serious. The next topic was going to be dire.

"I apologize, Kyle." The princess of day admitted at seeing me showing my serious face,"What else is there that we need to speak about?"

"It's about Luna."

At this, at my mention of her sister, Celestia became immediately curious. "What about her? Is something wrong?" She wondered from me.

For a little bit, I looked at the alabaster alicorn from behind my mask and said nothing. After a few moments, her face paled slightly more than her white coat. I was surprised I could even catch the sudden change in color.

"Kyle, what happened?" Her grace said to me with renewed grimness,"Is Luna alright?"

"She's fine _now_." I explained, trying to stay focused,"Last night, however, is a different story."

"What? What happened last night?"

Bah, here's the hardest part. Well, hm, here goes nothing.

"When I left to medical wing of the castle, I went to the dining room to get my throwing knives out from the ceiling." I began boldly, remembering what had happened last night easily, "Once I had done that, I wandered around some more until I found my room. I thought about the current situation and decided that I needed to apologize to you like I just did now."

It was here that I remained strong under Celestia's gaze while going on, "As I was leaving my room to find you though, I heard sobbing from a little ways down the hall. I went to go see who was crying and-"

"It was Luna, wasn't it?"

"Yes," I agreed with the snowy alicorn, nodding, "That's not the scary part though. I looked through the keyhole to the door to see if I could see anything. I, surprisingly enough, could. I saw Luna on her bed crying, and…"

For good reason, I went silent at the thought of the princess of the night having had a piece of glass in her magical grip. It was going to be tough telling Celestia what Luna had tried to do at that moment last night.

"And what? What happened, Kyle?"

"Well… She held up a shard from a broken mirror and tried to kill herself."

I was pretty damn blunt there. It made me feel bad in a way…

Celestia was ultimately shocked by the news. Her narrowed eyes instantly went wide and her mouth was slightly agape. Obviously, if not unfortunately, she was blind to what her sister was going through. Nonetheless, I figured I would help her out in that regard.

"There's no reason to fret, Celestia. I stopped your little sister. Don't worry about that. All in all, I had a nice long talk with Luna about why taking one's own life is wrong and what could have made her want to do that to herself."

There was a pause before I actually wondered aloud, "Your highness, would you like to know why your little sister tried to kill herself?"

Celestia closed her mouth and grimly nodded at me. Before I started, I looked her dead in the eyes to get my point across.

"Because," I started. "she is tired of living in your shadow. Luna said that this happened 1,000 years ago, and it's still happening now. Apparently, I'm one of the few people who pay attention to her, despite me only being here for only two days or close to that. And why did Luna try to inflict her death upon herself? She said that her despair was brought up by an anonymous pony during her night court who said that you are the true princess of Equestria. He said that or something close to it."

Celestia was astonished. No words escaped her mouth at the moment. That was before I noticed her eyes acquiring a slight shine to them.

… Tick tock.

… Aw, shit.

The princess of the sun was about to bawl like a baby! I really was not cut out to be a therapist! I wasn't good at comforting people, much less talking ponies. Then again, I couldn't in my right mind leave someone like the sun princess in trouble!

Agh, Jesus Almighty Christ, this place of Equestria was starting to get to me. I couldn't lose my reputation as Death. I couldn't become soft. I don't know what I would do if people ever stopped fearing me… I might very open up, drop my defenses, and become enchained like back in that nightmare with King – No, wha, blah! Enough of that kind of thinking!

"I…I didn't know."

Instantly, my thoughts of maybe losing my reputation as death were pushed aside when I heard Celestia – the goddess of the sun, mind – was blubbering to herself.

"I th-thought my l-little sister was h-happy again. I thought that she w-was getting the attention sh-she deserved. T-that she wanted." And cue the waterworks.

Just as I predicted, Celestia started bawling like an infant next. Truly, I couldn't blame her for doing so. She had good reason to weep, to feel sad, to feel like she had failed in something big. She felt extremely terrible for not focusing more on her sister, on missing something as terrible as Luna being pushed to the end.

And there, by the balcony with the depressed alicorn of the sun, I abruptly remembered my own sisters back on Earth. I never had lived with them and they were all married. I was the youngest of them. Yet, when they would visit me, we would always get along.

I had three sisters. Samantha, Mindy, and Katie. In that order, they went from oldest to youngest respectfully.I don't know what happened to them. Nevertheless, I hoped that they were happy. Even though I hadn't talked to them in years.

Celestia, beside me, kept crying for the next minute or two. In her own way, she truly must not have noticed Luna's pain. Like the dark of the night she represented, the princess of the moon must have been really good at hiding her feelings.

"Princess Celestia…" I said, trying to keep my tough guy attitude while also trying to offer a shoulder for her to perhaps cry upon. Despite my reputation, I needed to cheer the white alicorn up in some way.

"W-w-what kind of s-sister am I?" Celestia suddenly burst out, her hooves slamming down upon the floor to leave cracks,"I almost lost my little Lulu, and I was completely blind to it!"

"Princess!" I stated, feeling something growing out of control in her majesty in the meantime.

"I-I should have known what was g-going on!" Celestia exclaimed, flashing her wings in frustration at herself,"This is the second time in close to a thousand years! She could have very well turned into Nightmare and I would have had to – Oh, by the spirits!"

"Princess Celestia!" I said more sternly. More than anything, due to this sudden show of dramatics, I was about to get annoyed. Regardless, the keeper of the sun couldn't hear me over her own infant like bawling.

"I shouldn't have someone as loving and caring as Luna at my side! She was the one punished a thousand years ago but she was completely innocent! I'm not fit to be an older sist-"

"PRINCESS, THAT'S ENOUGH OF THAT! SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Celestia jumped a tremendous amount when I roared at her to quit sobbing all over herself. I had scared the shit out of her, though, thankfully, not literally.

"Your highness, shut up and listen to me for a second, would you?"

Celestia did as I asked.

"I won't try to understand what you're going through because, honestly, I've never been in this kind of situation." I admitted, being very honest,"Back on Earth, I never had a younger sibling to look after besides the occasional cousin that would visit every now and then. I will say this though: what you did to Luna 1,000 years ago was wrong. There had to be some other way to save Luna other than sending her to the moon while she was trapped inside of her own body. I can imagine that that made Luna feel like she was in an unbearable prison straight from the depths of hell."

Celestia's ears drooped down and her eyes glossed over as I said this. I had made her feel even more horrible but that would soon change.

"_But_, after having seen your display here, I do have to give you credit. You just manned up to your mistake and took it head-on. I've hardly ever seen that in life. Usually people either stay or when they see their mistake, they are never strong again."

Next, without really thinking about it, I patted her highness on the cheek as I said, "You have had to hold up for a thousand years knowing what you did to Luna. A _thousand _years. Thus, you're strong Celestia. Stronger than all of this weeping, anyway. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise and don't you question it yourself."

As expected, Celestia's ears perked back up behind her ethereal mane and she gave a few sniffles to prevent the tears that still threatened to fall.

"Truly, the answer to this complication is simple. All you need to do is more commonly show Luna that you care. That's what she needs most right now instead of a six foot five inch monster like yours truly who knows only death. She needs her sister's care and affection instead of like mine, a killer's."

At my words, which were hopefully inspiring, Celestia nodded.

"Yes. Yes, I-I understand."Celestia responded,"I will most definitely be spending more time with her. Of that, I can assure you,"

Ah, nice. It was good to see her grace back to her old self. Err…maybe not "old self" but not a quivering wreck like she was mere seconds ago.

"Good. I'm glad to hear that." I told her, just keeping myself from showing her a smile. Man, if I had smiled… I wouldn't have heard the end of it, right?

For a long moment, myself and Celestia stood there alone before turning to the balcony and gazing into the night sky once more.

"So," I started. "when do you raise the sun?"

"How did you know about that?" Her highness asked.

"Luna told me all about it yesterday at lunch. I responded by telling her how my own sun and moon are raised."

"And…?"

"Hmm?"

"How are your sun and moon raised where you come from?"

"Ah, well, let Luna tell you sometime." I stated, allowing the two sisters to have a subject to talk about and bond together with in the future,"It's too much of a hassle to go through the whole spew all over again now. That or let Twilight Sparkle tell you. When I began talking about lunar subjects, that purple pony seemed into that stuff immediately. I was lucky to get away from her when I did."

"Oh, Twilight Sparkle! Bah ha ha!" Celestia actually laughed out, "Yes. Yes, she would be into all of that "stuff". She's a bit of a bookworm but don't tell her I said that."

"Tell her what?" I mused.

"Exactly." The princess of day joked along.

I was surprised, honestly. We, Celestia and I, were getting along pretty well now. You'd never guess that kind of behavior would come from a pony that looks like she is a divine, almighty goddess. I actually…enjoyed her company. She wasn't as bad as I thought. Please don't tell her that, though.

We shot the shit for a few more minutes before we heard the clopping sound of a walking pony behind us. Both Celestia and I turned to find Princess Luna walking towards us with a most bedraggled look.

"Tia," Luna said with a groan. "We hate this job. 'Tis a most unruly one that another wouldst surely find more entertaining than I."

Celestia simply ignored her comments before galloping up to Luna and basically tackling her into a hug. Honestly, as I found it most amusing, the white alicorn would have made a great linebacker for the NFL back on earth.

"Lulu!" Celestia started shrilly, "I'm so sorry! I've been so blind! I had no idea of what you were going through! Please find it in your heart to forgive me! Please!"

Luna gave Celestia a most puzzled look before she caught sight of me standing at the balcony. Luna put two and two together to figure out what her sister was currently talking about.

"It's okay, Celestia," Luna said in response "we forgive you. We could never stay angry at thou for long anymore. We know what thou had to go through while we were on the moon."

"Luna, do not play games with me. I know exactly what I've done wrong and I aim to fix it. From now on, I will be spending more time with you. I will also make it a point to inform the subjects as _our _subjects, instead of mine alone."

Throughout all of this they held each other in a warm embrace. Luna looked at me and mouthed the words "thank you". I gave her a firm nod in return. It was just about time that she got the love that she had been aching for so long to feel. I couldn't help but smile at this though. It felt good to be the person who caused good tidings to roll over someone else.

… Ahem.

… Yep.

Bah, I am becoming waaaay too soft. That needs to change.

"Well, Death," Celestia said. "Now that Luna is here, would you like to see us raise the sun and lower the moon?"

"I would be most honored, Princess." I responded.

In turn, Celestia and Luna walked side-by-side to the balcony. Luna stopped for a moment when she passed me to give me a very heartfelt smile. Confidently, I winked at her in response which, to my amusement, caused her cheeks to turn rosy. Moving on, Luna turned her head quickly and trotted up to be beside her older sister once again.

Then, my eyes widened when I realized something. I honestly didn't think that _I_, Death, could ever make someone blush! I never really thought of myself as a ladies' man. Well, mare's man, actually. Or was it… Bah, whatever.

Anyway, while here in Equestria, perhaps I had changed a bit?

Once both of the princesses had lined up, their horns started glowing colors that matched their respective coat. Together, both alicorn sisters flew up into the air simultaneously and soon the sun started to show up beyond the horizon! In the meantime, on the opposite horizon, the moon lowered itself out of sight. And during it all, the magical scene had been absolutely beautiful.

WAIT! GOD DAMN IT! WHY AM I THINKING LIKE THIS?! BEAUTIFUL, MAGICAL, BEING A MARE'S MAN? WHAT?!

As the ponies lowered to the ground, I took to slowly clapping. Both Celestia and Luna turned to me with smiles on their faces as I quickly turned up my mask (Kyle's mask has the swivel like that of a welder's mask).

"That was awesome." I simply said to the alicorns, astonished.

"Thank you, Death. We appreciate your praise." Celestia chimed.

I didn't know what to do now. I was their personal guard, true, but I had no idea where they were to go to next.

"Sooo," I started. "Now what?"

"There is a meeting that both Luna and I must attend to today." Celestia explained, trotting towards me with her little sister trailing, "Nevertheless, we will be eating breakfast before that happens. And now, it is time to assume your role as our escort, Death."

With good humor, I gave a fake groan of annoyance.

"Fine. Lead the way, ladies."

And so, the sisters did. In the meantime, I followed them on Luna's right while I flipped my mask down and activated my blade and armor.

"Thank you, Kyle." a voice in my head sounded. I looked around before my eyes settled on Luna's. I figured that she had been the one to do that. Hm. Maybe she had used a spell?

"Anytime, your highness. It's what friends are for." I thought back.

Luna simply stared up at me with a kind look. One that gave me hope. One that made me think that everything was going to be okay between us, between herself and her older sister, now. In turn, I simply took her look as something two close-knit friends would give to each other. Something that meant nothing more than kind to honest friendship.

However, as she gazed upon me, I didn't know that Luna's stare was something more or wanting to be more than friendship… It seemed, even though having been here in Equestria for such a short time, I was unknowingly becoming a lady's man or mare's man or whatnot, after all.

**A/N: Well, mortals, there you go. The next chapter of Nothing Left to Lose. Again, I am incredibly sorry that this took so long to come out. It is apparent that one every week will not be possible by a long shot, but I will try my best.**

**So how was it? Good? Bad? So-So? I thought it was a so-so chapter. Nothing really interesting happened, but that will be changed next chapter. One of the red zone's army is coming next chapter so there will most definitely be action. **

**If you have any questions PM me or put it in a review. I can get to it faster in PM.**

**Another shout out to Guardian55 for being the new beta reader for this story! I could not ask that man for anything more. He has shown me the utmost kindness that is very hard to come by nowadays. I want all of you to go check out his newest story. It is pure gold. I'm sure he would appreciate a review from every one of you people.**


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